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THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 









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MAJORCA. 


THREE WEEKS IN 


./ 

WILLIAM ' DODD, A.M. 

♦ • 



LONDON: 

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 

1863. 





DPsoa. 


t 


LONDON : 

BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. 


This little book was written in 1862 , shortly 
after the tour it describes was made. Why 
it was not published then, or why it appears 
now, the public will not care to know. But 
the date is mentioned, because, in the case of 
a progressive country, statements which are 

perfectly true in one year, may lose some of 

. 

their exactness in the next. 





CONTENTS. 


-♦- 

CHAPTER I. 

Voyage to Majorca.—Equinoctial Gale.—Don Jaime. 
—Beach of Alcudia ...... 

CHAPTER II. 

Alcudia.—Posada.—Mallorquin and Catalan 

CHAPTER III. 

Road from Alcudia to Inca and Palma.—Honesty and 
Dishonesty.—Rage and Boasting . . . . 

CHAPTER IV. 

Palma.—Inns.—Armoured Ships.—Don Jaime again. 
—Cathedral.—Ramparts . . . . . 

CHAPTER V. 

Alqueria of Raxa.—Guardia Civil.—Liberality of Go¬ 
vernment, and Loyalty of People.—Descent on 
Soller ......... 


CHAPTER VI. 

Soller.—Mines.—Harbour.—Mules.—Bridge of La 
Ma.—Turkish Excursion . 


rAGE 

1 

10 

24 

33 

44 

54 



Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Schools and Convents . 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Religion, Bigotry, and Persecution .... 

CHAPTER IX. 

Socialism.—Spanish Infantry ..... 

CHAPTER X. 

Walk through Soller.—Parish Church.—Sack of Soller 
—Robbers, Priests, and Ladies .... 

CHAPTER XI. 

Walks about Soller.—El Barranco.—El Puig Mayor. 
—Military Ardour.—Our Lady of Lluch 

CHAPTER XII. 

Valldemosa.—Caves of Arta.—Extraordinary Pheno¬ 
menon.—Mail Coach, and its Driver 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Palma.—Holy Week ..... 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Balearic Isles.—Soller again.—Conclusion 


PAGE 

66 


80 


97 


107 


120 


133 


153 


164 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


CHAPTER I. 

Voyage to Majorca.—Equinoctial Gale.—Don Jaime.—Beacli of 

Alcudia. 

Dining one day at the public table of Las 
quatro Nacioncs at Barcelona, I chanced to sit 
next to a gentleman just arrived from Majorca. 
Instead of coming direct from Valencia to 
Barcelona, he had made a detour by way of the 
Balearic Isles; and though he had not seen 
much of the country, he spoke of the facility 
with which the islands could be visited. 

I listened with much interest to his state¬ 
ment. School-boy impressions of the strong- 
armed Slingers, who, as boys, w r ere trained to 
strike their breakfasts from a rafter before they 

could eat them, and who, as men, did such good 

° / 




THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


service in the Roman wars, rose freshly to the 
mind. The islands, it seemed to me, were well 
worth a visit. Whatever might be their natural 
beauty, there was a deep historic interest about 
that little group where Hannibal was born ; 
where, from remotest times, down to the date 
of Spanish occupation, wave upon wave of 
foreign invasion—Phoenician, Carthaginian, Ro¬ 
man, Vandalic, Gothic, and Moorish—succes¬ 
sively surged ; and where, on the part of the 
islanders, the monotony of subjugation and suf¬ 
fering was occasionally diversified by romantic 
snatches of independence and piracy. 

I was alone; travelling for health and amuse¬ 
ment ; free to go and come as I listed ; so I 
resolved, on the moment, to pass over to the 
Balearic Isles, and thence cross to Valencia, in 
prosecution of my Spanish tour. 

Accordingly, on the 28 th of March, I went 
on board El Rey Don Jaime , a stout steamer, 
called after the King of Aragon who wrested 
Majorca (or Mallorca, as the inhabitants call it) 

4 


THREE WEEKS IN' MAJORCA. 


3 


from the Moors. We left Barcelona at four 
o’clock in the afternoon, and ought to have 
reached Palma, the capital of the island, at six 
the following morning, the distance being a 
hundred and thirty-five miles. The wind was 
fresh at starting, but by no means boisterous. 
But during the night there was a good deal of 
rolling ; and as I lay awake in my berth, I felt 
some heavy shocks, which seemed to stagger 
our powerful vessel. 

I rose early in the morning ; and on going 
upon deck, I found that a fierce equinoctial gale 
was blowing. We had left Palma far behind 
us ; for the storm w r as so great that the captain 
feared to keep the steamer in the trough of the 
sea, by going direct to his destination. He had 
made the attempt, I was told; but several 
heavy seas had struck the ship on the beam, 
which flooded the deck, and rose high above 
the funnel. 

It was a grand sight which met the eye. 
We were running parallel with the land which,^ 


4 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


through the clouds and mist, loomed hold and 
mountainous. Huge rollers, crested with foam, 
exasperated apparently by the loss of their 
prey, seemed to pursue our ship without being 
able to overtake her. Nothing afloat was to be 
seen within the compass of the horizon, but a 
three-masted vessel under bare poles, reeling to 
and fro across the sky, and running like our¬ 
selves before the wind. 

In this same sea, more than six hundred 
years before, El Rey Don Jaime —not the 
steamboat, but the conqueror in person, King 
of Aragon and Count of Barcelona—encoun¬ 
tered a similar equinoctial storm, on his way to 
the conquest of Majorca. 

Some eight months previously, as the old 
Catalan chronicle * relates, the chivalrous young 
king, renowned in song of Troubadour as brave, 
bountiful, and just,-— 

El jove rei d’Arago que conferma 
Merce y dreg, e malrestat desferma ; 


* Cronica dc Fr. Pcre Marsili doviinico. J 




THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


5 


had summoned his Cortes to meet him at 
Barcelona, where the archbishop and bishops, 
abbots, nobles, and deputies of cities, in the 
order of their estates and dignities, came to¬ 
gether, to hear what the king had to say from 
his royal seat. He opened his mind in few but 
stirring words. 

“ Great and noble,” he said, “ are the things 
which we revolve in our heart. Grave and 
difficult they are as respects our own power, 
but light and easy of accomplishment with 
Almighty God. Prepare yourselves for new 
and marvellous enterprises. An opportunity 
presents itself of spreading abroad the light 
of truth and virtue. We propose to go to 
Mallorca, and by the help of the Most High, 
to overcome and conquer its infidel king.” 

Three things he asked, out of reverence to 
God and love to his own person : that his 
hearers would put away from them all discord 
and strife, wdiatever they were, or wheresoever 
they existed ; that they would aid him to the 


6 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


utmost with their counsel and co-operation ; and 
that they would grant him a subsidy equal to 
the importance of the object proposed. The 
Estates having deliberated in separate bodies, 
each, by its representative, cordially assented to 
the royal proposal. 

The necessary preparations having been com¬ 
pleted, in the month of September, 1229, the 
armada, consisting of one hundred and fifty 
large ships and many smaller, carrying of fight¬ 
ing men fifteen thousand infantry and fifteen 
hundred cavalry, besides some irregular militia, 
left the port of Salou, near Tarragona. It was 
beautiful to behold the crowded ships and the 
sea whitened with their sails. The monline: air 
blew softly, and the blessing of Him in whose 
hands is the strength of kingdoms, seemed to 
rest on the expedition. 

The fleet had not proceeded far, however, 
when a south-east wind sprang up, which gra¬ 
dually increased in fury until, between none 
and vespers, the sea rose most frightfully, and 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


7 


nearly swamped the royal galley, filling more 
than one-third of it with water. Don Jaime 
and his brave companions in arms were sorely 
incommoded ; for the sea put to the proof the 
internal economy not only of the new sailors, 
hut even that of the experienced seamen. The 
feet of all vacillated; their heads were confused. 

There is nothing new under the sun. There 
have been gales of wind and sea-sickness long 
before my voyage to Majorca. As regards the 
Aragonese, the words of the old chronicler are 
wonderfully graphic and plain-spoken ; and I 
will give them in the original Catalan : “ Entre 
bora nona e vespras cresque lo vent, e fort hor- 
riblement la mar se infla : muntan las ondas e 
complexen be la tersa part de la galea ; e la 
mar prova e assatja los ventres dels novels 
peregrins e encare dels antichs mariners ; tots 
los peus los vacillan, e’ls caps ban torbats.” 

Notwithstanding this impediment and incon¬ 
venience to ships and men, the royal armada 
reached Majorca in safety. 


8 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA* 


And in our case there was no great danger, 
for we had a stout vessel below us, of English 
build, and propelled by English machinery, and 
a captain vigilant and cautious almost to excess. 
Probably an English skipper, in such a gale of 
wind, would have taken the ship into Palma at 
once and without hesitation. 

As it was, we left Palma behind ; and a few 
hours more brought us within the capacious 
shelter of the bay of Alcudia, where the captain 
determined to wait in smooth water till the 
storm outside should abate; and then reach 
Palma by going round the other side of the 
island. 

Hours passed lazily away, and the delay 
became wearisome ; and as I leaned over the 
side of the vessel contemplating a grand range 
of serrated mountains, with here and there a 
dominating peak glittering in the sun, I felt a 
strong desire to go ashore and cross the island 
from this point to Palma. The little town of 
Alcudia lay before me, about a mile up the 


THREE WEEKS TN MAJORCA. 


9 


slope; and the distance thence to Palma, I 
was informed, was about thirty miles. 

I expressed my wish to the captain, and was 
told I should have much difficulty in making 
my way, as in the rural districts the people did 
not speak Castilian, but Mallorquin , a dialect 
peculiar to the island, and wholly unintelligible 
to a stranger. I persisted, however, in my 
purpose, and the captain kindly ordered his 
boat to take me ashore with my luggage. 
Four stout fellows pulled with a will, stimulated 
by the promise of a couple of pesetas; and I 
was soon landed on the beach of Alcudia. 

So there I was planted, all alone, a stranger 
in a strange land, with my traps about me. 
Retreat w r as cut off, for as I looked back I saw 
the boat had nearly reached the steamer on its 
return. Necessity said Forward ! and I must 
somehow suit the action to the word. 


CHAPTER II. 


Alcudia.—Posada.—Mallorquin and Catalan. 

The town of Alcudia, as I have said, was 
nearly a mile distant from where I stood ; and 
the first requisite obviously was, to reach it. 
Seeing a boy within hail, I called, and beckoned 
him to come to me ; and most agreeably sur¬ 
prised I was to find, that, after a little preli¬ 
minary difficulty, we were mutually intelligible. 

The fact is, in the Balearic Isles, as in Spain 
generally, there is at the present time an excel¬ 
lent system of education for the lower classes, 
of which I w r as ignorant when I landed in 
Majorca; but of which I shall have occasion 
to speak at some length by-and-bye. The chil¬ 
dren are all instructed in Castilian at school; 
and the teaching of provincial dialects is strictly 
prohibited by the central government. The 


THREE WEEKS 11ST MAJORCA. 11 

consequence is, that the younger portion of the 
population within the Spanish dominions every¬ 
where speak Castilian, with more or less fluency 
and correctness; while the older portion, even 
of the poorest class, will generally be found to 

s 

have gathered from the rising generation some 
little acquaintance with the same tongue. 

I explained to the boy what I wanted, and 
lie hurried away, and quickly returned with a 
donkey and some cord; and, with great dex¬ 
terity and despatch, he slung my two portman¬ 
teaus, one on each side of the ass, threw my 
loose things on the top, jumped up himself, and 
vdmonos! was the word. 

Alcudia is a town of Moorish origin, as its 
name implies; and though once the capital of 
the island, has now a population of only 1500 
people ; and its posada * is in keeping with the 
size and importance of the place. I asked the 
landlady what I could have for supper. Of 
course there was everything I could desire, so 


* An inn of an inferior kind ; literally, a place of repose. 


12 THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 

I understood her to say. But throughout our 
intercourse I should have understood her better, 
if she had not shouted so dreadfully. People 
will imagine that all foreigners are deaf, and 
the less you understand the louder they bawl; 
and, conversely, the louder they bawl, the less 
you are sure to understand. “Hay de todo,” 
said the good lady; I had but to ask for what 
I wanted. 

Now it happened, as I was entering the 
town, that I overtook some little beautiful black 
pigs, as fat as butter, low in the leg, and short 
in the coupling, such as had often gladdened 
my eyes and palate in Andalucia. So I mo¬ 
destly proposed that she should give me some 
soup and an omelet; and if she would do me 
the favour to add a cutlet of pork, or some 
sausages, I should be grateful for her benefi¬ 
cence. The sausages and cutlets, she said, had 
all been consumed before my arrival; but I 
should have soup and an omelet, and some 

excellent eggs passed through water—boiled, 

/ 



THREE WEEKS IH MAJORCA. 


13 


that is, in plain English. I acquiesced, and 
desired the good lady to show me my room. 

The room was thoroughly clean ; but, with 
the exception of a couple of chairs, as tho¬ 
roughly unfurnished. “ Where was I to sleep V 9 
The Senora would bring a bed into the room. 
Now, I hate a shake-down, and have done so 
ever since, on a memorable occasion, a great 
tom-cat, in hot pursuit of his prey, and with 
claws expanded, took a short cut across my 
face. I intimated my objection to the land¬ 
lady, and she showed me another chamber. 
Here was sat, superque, enough and to spare, 
for two bedsteads met my view. 

“ Which is my bed V 9 I inquired ; “ and who 
occupies the other % 99 

“ A most respectable subject would share the 
room with me, a man, may caballero , very much 
of a cavalier/' she replied. 

I demurred to this arrangement; and, as 
there was no tertium quid, I fell back on the 

y 

first proposition. 


14 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


That being settled, and while supper was 
being prepared, I strolled through the town, 
and came to an old Moorish gateway and some 
Moorish fortifications in a state of very tolerable 
preservation. There were two or three square 
red towers, huge and massive, which seemed 
like old friends to have come all the way from 
the Alhambra to welcome me. I passed out 
into the country. The sun had just set, and 
people were returning from their work. The 
men were dressed in wide Zouave-looking 
breeches, and some of them had dressed 
goat-skins hanging picturesquely from their 
shoulders. The women looked out, grave and 
solemn, from the shadow of broad-brimmed 
straw hats. 

“ Buenos noches ! ” I said to the first group, 
in Castilian. 

“ Tenga usted bona nit !—Have good night, 
your worship ! ”—was the reply in Mallorquin. 

Tenga , by itself, the rest being understood, is 
the common salutation to a stranger in Majorca. 



THREE WEEKS IH MAJORCA. 


15 


It is a convenient form, for it suits all times of 
day and night; and, though brief and uncere¬ 
monious, it is always given with heartiness 
and good-will. 

On my return to the inn, I found supper 
ready. The materials were not bad; but, to my 
mind, they had been spoiled in the cooking. 
Everything savoured of oil; the very eggs on 
which I relied as my piece de resistance , seemed 
to have been passed through oil instead of 
water. This must have been from sympathy; 
a quality, by-the-bye, which Spaniards very 
much affect. 

The English they say are not simpaticos , and 
therefore are not favourites. The French are 
muy simpaticos ; and so commend themselves 
to the people. It is the manner that pleases 
them, but the Spaniards might have found out 
by this time, that no reality lies below it. 

As I have said, every part of my supper 
seemed to be penetrated and mixed up with 
oil, and oil has not its proper effect on me—it 


16 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


does not make a cheerful countenance. My 
landlady, who stood by while I w r as eating, 
seemed to guess my feelings; for she repeatedly 
asked, if the supper pleased me, and if I was 
content. Of course I was content; who could 
be otherwise in presence of such an anxious 
desire to please % 

On retiring to rest, I found a bed extempo¬ 
rised on a few boards supported by a couple of 
trestles. The linen, as I have generally found 
it in Spain, was perfectly dry and clean. The 
walls, scrupulously whitewashed and without a 
spot, bore a few coloured prints, rude enough 
in point of execution, but suggestive of holy 
thoughts and blessed assurances ; good for the 
eye and mind to rest upon before passing into 
the darkness and helplessness of sleep—that 
image and likeness of death, the mysterious eve 
of a new existence. 

After rising in the morning, I threw the 
shutters open; and then observed for the first 
time that there was no glass between me and 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


17 


the outer world ; nothing to prevent the free 
admission of fresh air, and glorious sunshine. 
The circumstance spoke well for the mildness of 
the climate. 

A fine clever boy waited on me at breakfast, 
who, according to the custom of the country, 
had learnt Castilian at school. I asked him 
about the Mallorquin dialect; and to discover 
what relationship there was between it and the 
Catalan, I showed him some songs in the latter 
dialect which I had purchased at Barcelona; 
and when I found he could read and understand 
them with facility, I desired him to translate 
them for me into Mallorquin. When he had 
finished, he remarked that there was a con¬ 
siderable difference between Catalan and Mai- 

• 

lorquin ; but I soon came to the conclusion that 
the difference is not essential, but that it 
consists partly in pronunciation, and partly in 
inflexion and termination. The Mallorquin, as 
it appears to me, is merely a patois, or corrup¬ 
tion of the Catalan, and by no means entitled to, v 


18 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


rank with the latter as a cognate and indepen¬ 
dent dialect. 

The Catalan has a history and position of its 
own. 

Deriving its name and many of its qualities 
from the rude and warlike country which gave 
it birth, it is grounded, like its cognate idioms, 
the Provencal and Castilian, on a debased dialect 
of the Latin tongue. 

At the time when Barcelona was taken from 
the Moors, the language of Catalonia differed 
little from the Provencal as spoken in that part 
of the south of France which extends from Italy 

o 

to Spain.* Its energy and roughness might 
contrast in some degree with the elegance of a 
dialect cultivated by kings and nobles; but 
there appears to have been no essential 
difference, and a common appellation, la lengua 
Lemosina , was applied to both; and even at 
the present day, I am told, a Catalan from the 

* See “History of Spanish Literature,” by M. G. Ticknor, vol. i, 
c. 16. v 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


19 


northern part of the old principality has little 
difficulty in conversing with a native of 
Marseilles. 

The accession of the third Count of Barce¬ 
lona, by marriage, to the crown of Aragon ; 
and, about a century later, the conquest and 
occupation of the Balearic Isles, and of the city 
and kingdom of Valencia, by the Conqueror 
Don Jaime, events of immense political impor¬ 
tance, had also the effect of giving a wider field 
to the Catalan dialect, modified of course by 
the genius and habits of the people among whom 
it was introduced. 

The union of the crowns of Aragon and 
Castile laid the foundation of the present 
Spanish monarchy; and though the Catalan did 
not become the classical language of Spain, it 
unquestionably lent tone and strength to its 
nobler sister, the grand and copious Castilian. 

And thus we see how it has happened that 
the Catalan is spoken, with slight variations, 
not in Majorca only, but throughout a consider7 


20 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


able breadth of country on the east of Spain, 
reaching from the Pyrenees to the confines of 
Murcia. In this district, it is the vernacular 
of the common people, many of whom speak 
no other language; sermons are frequently 
preached in it, and on certain great festivals, 
such as that of Sent Vicent de Ferrer at 
Valencia, milagres , or religious plays, performed 
in the open air, are composed in it. 

Any one, therefore, who purposes to travel in 
Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, or the Balearic 
islands, will do well to put in his pocket a 
Catalan dictionary, which may be purchased 
either at Barcelona or Valencia. This pre¬ 
supposes a tolerable knowledge of Castilian, 
without which, though a man may manage 
to get on, tamely and unsatisfactorily, on the 
mainland, it is utterly useless to visit the isles. 

After breakfast, I went out to inquire in what 
w r ay I could best proceed to Palma. 

I looked into the little church of Alcudia in 
passing, and saw the people at their early 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


21 


devotions. The interior of the building is neat, 
and there is a good vaulted roof. Among the 
votive offerings on the wall, there was a short 
gun or musketoon, which must have an interest¬ 
ing story, I should think, connected with it. 

I could not learn it at the time, and other 
things put the matter out of my head after¬ 
wards. I was sorry for this, when I came to 
think about it, and the thoughts of that musket 
haunted me for days after. Another thing I 
passed over which may deserve inspection—■ 
the remains of an old Homan amphitheatre in 
the neighbourhood of the town. Nobody men¬ 
tioned them to me, and I had no guide-book of 
Majorca to direct me ; as far as I know, no 
such thing exists. To compose one would not 
be difficult for any one who has leisure ; for 
the sphere of observation is very limited, and 
the people of the country are intelligent and 
communicative. In the course of my little 
tour through the island, I had to depend for my 
information chiefly on inquiry and hearsay, andy 


22 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


fhat will account for other omissions besides 
what I have mentioned, as well as be a reason¬ 
able excuse for possible but I hope trifling 
inaccuracies. 

Proceeding in my search for a conveyance to 
Palma, I was referred to a man who was willing 
to meet my wishes on reasonable terms. He 
was not backward in recommending his goods. 
“The caro” so he called his conveyance, “is 
excellent,” he said, “ and the mule marches 
valiantly.” The Spaniards* are a grand people, 
with grand ideas, and a grand language in 
which to express them. However, as the caro 
had no springs, and I no knowledge of the roads 
of the country, I declined the offer with many 
acknowledgments. 

At last I arranged with my landlady that 
the boy who w r aited on me at breakfast should 
accompany me as guide, and take my luggage 


* I call the inhabitants of the Balearic Isles Spaniards, because 
the first article of the Spanish Constitution declares them to be so. 
Son Espanoles todas las personas nacidas cn los dominios de Espana . 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


23 


on a donkey as far as Inca, a town twelve miles 
off, where I could easily obtain the accom¬ 
modation I wanted. Having settled my bill, 
which amounted to three pesetas,* and taken 
leave of my obliging hostess, we started on our 
j ourney. 


* Half-a-crown. 


CHAPTER III. 


Road from Alcudia to Inca and Palma.—Honesty and Dishonesty. 

—Rage and Boasting. 

The day was bright, the road excellent, and 
the country interesting. Some rocky hills, of 
no great elevation, lay on my left; while on the 
right ran the grand range of mountains I had 
seen from the steamer,—the lofty Puig,* with 
which I was shortly to make a more familiar 
acquaintance, towering above the rest. At 
some points the road might have reminded me 
of a highland pass in Scotland, if the olive 
trees and algarrobos f which bordered the way, 
the large fig trees bursting into leaf, the wheat 
about to shoot, the barley in ear, the gay 
patches of flax in flower, and, more than all, the 

* Pronounced Pooitch. 

+ Carol) trees, the pods of which are excellent food for cattle. 



THREE AVEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


25 


clear sky above, and the sunny atmosphere— 
above, around, and within—had not made com¬ 
parison impossible. I enjoyed the Avalk exceed¬ 
ingly. Under such circumstances, to exist is 
happiness; and to have health and soundness, 
eyes that can see, and legs equal to their work, 
is a blessing inappreciable. Body and soul, as 
at the first creation, are in harmony with earth 
and sky; and a feeling of thankfulness to the 
Maker of all that is beautiful, and the Giver of 
all that is good, pervades, tranquillizes, and 
hallows the Avhole man. 

Having arrived at Inca Ave proceeded straight¬ 
way to the principal fonda* The large sala 
opened to the street, and Avas full of people, 
the day being a fiesta; and the boy, the donkey, 
and myself, marched valiantly in, and were 
soon engaged with our several refreshments. 

I found there Avas a car returning to Palma, 

v 

* A superior kind of inn ; perhaps from funder e, to pour out, as 
supplying not repose only, but refreshments also. Martial, himself 
a Spaniard, uses fundus in the sense of a drinking cup. L. 8, 
Ep. 6. 



26 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


in which I secured a place, having first settled 
with the boy, and paid my little hill to the 
landlady of the fonda. To the former I had 
given a small gratuity over and above his 
demand. He quickly came after me with the 
balance, under the impression that I had made 
a mistake ; and when I told him the surplus 
was for himself, his glistening eyes and white 
teeth were a pleasing accompaniment to his 
muchas gracias, and buen mage, Senor, often 
repeated. 

On comparing my landlady’s bill afterwards 
with the change she had given me, I found she 
had cheated me of a few r pesetas. We will set 
the one incident against the other, and hope 
that the rising generation is an improvement on 
that which is passing away. 

And here let me give a hint, derived from 
experience, to anyone passing through an un¬ 
travelled country like Majorca. If he want 
change, let him ask for it and receive it imme¬ 
diately on entering his inn. Should he defer 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


27 


doing so till the end of his repast, the host or 
hostess is sure to deduct from the money that is 
given the cost of the entertainment, and pro¬ 
bably give in the change a quantity of small 
coins embarrassing to calculate. The traveller 
thus loses the advantage of holding the purse, 
and becomes receiver instead of paymaster; 
and some part of what is due to him is likely 
to stick to the fingers of the person to whom 
he has surrendered the advantage. It is best 
not to throw temptation unnecessarily in people’s 
way. 

In the car I had two men from Palma re¬ 
turning home, as compagnons de voyage. We 
had not gone far before another car came 
rattling up behind us, and one of my fellow- 
travellers began chaffing its occupants. They 
spoke Mallorquin, and were therefore unintel¬ 
ligible to me. But all at once the man in our 
conveyance, in a furious passion, jumped out, 
violently arrested the horse of the other car, 
and proceeded to drag one of the occupants 


28 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


out by the leg. I expected bloodshed, but our 
driver, with his friend, leaped down and sepa¬ 
rated the disputants, and with some difficulty 
induced their excited townsman to resume his 
place. He soon calmed down, and I asked him 
the cause of his extraordinary excitement. He 
said he had called the fellow in the other car¬ 
riage a drunkard, who had, it seemed, retorted 
by applying an offensive epithet to the mother 
of our companion ; one which seriously affected 
the good lady’s reputation, and correspondingly 
damaged her son’s social position. 

One has heard this sort of thing in England ; 
and I mention the matter here, only because it 
illustrates what I had previously been told, that 
the Mallorquines never have recourse to the 
knife ; that an offence which, in Andalucia or 
Valencia, would be avenged with the stab, 
these, after a little mutual abuse, pass over and 
forget. 

My friends, however, had one peculiarity of 
Spanish character in perfection—they were 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


29 


mightily given to boasting. “ There was no 
cathedral in the world equal to that of Palma ; 
and as to Palma itself, it was perfectly impreg¬ 
nable. The English were strong enough to 
take Gibraltar ; but Palma, no.” 

After listening quietly to a good deal of this 
kind of stuff, I thought I should be justified in 
doing a little fanfaronnade myself. The oppor¬ 
tunity soon occurred. We were passing through 
some vineyards; one of my companions asked 
if we grew much wine in England. 

“ No, not much wine,” I replied ; “ the land 
is too valuable for that; but we grow a great 
quantity of ale and porter.” 

“ Are they good ? ” inquired the Palmesanos. 

I drew a long breath, and put my fingers to 
my mouth in the way the Spaniards do when 
they would denote anything inexpressibly de¬ 
licious. 

“ Are all the English as tall as you ? ” they 
went on to ask. I stand nearly six feet two in 
my stockings. 


30 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


“ Oh! very much taller,” I replied; “ at 
home they call me chico .” * 

“ Caramba ! ” they all exclaimed with staring 
astonishment. 

I burst out a laughing, and they all followed 
my example. I expect they will talk a little 
more modestly the next time they encounter an 
Englishman. 

We reached Palma, having passed the whole 
way from Inca through a vale remarkably fer¬ 
tile and well cultivated, bounded on one side by 
the range of mountains I have already men¬ 
tioned. 

We drove across the wide moat of the city, 
and under the frowning battlements of a high 
and massive wall; and after exchanging a 
friendly adieu with my companions, I estab¬ 
lished myself at the Fonda del Vapor. 


* The least of a family is always called Chico, or small boy. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Palma.—Inns.—Armoured Ships.—Don Jaime again.—Cathedral. 

—Ramparts. 

Palma is a city of considerable size, its 
population numbering about 52,000. Its posi¬ 
tion on the sea is bold and commanding, but 
there is an appearance of decay about the 
place ; the houses for the most part are dingy- 
looking, and the streets in general dirty and 
ill-paved. 

I may add here that the inns are very indif¬ 
ferent. Perhaps Las tres Palomas is the best, 
but there is little to choose among them. There 
is, I was told, a casa de liuespedes , or boarding¬ 
house, No. 51, porticos de Santo Domingo , which 
is both clean and comfortable, with a good table 
and an attentive hostess. 

The city occupies the site of an old Roman 


32 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


town of the same name, founded more than a 
century before Christ, by Quintus Cecilius Me- 
tellus, who, for his reduction of the islands, was 
honoured with the title of Balearicus. The 
inhabitants, it appears, had taken advantage of 
the depression of the Carthaginian power to 
resume their independence, and with it their old 
piratical habits. But the Roman consul soon 
brought them to reason and better behaviour. 

In the prosecution of his enterprise Metellus 
anticipated the grand idea of our day, by ar¬ 
mouring his fleet; and the slings and balistas 
of the bold islanders were found ineffectual 
against the thick covering of hides which pro¬ 
tected the Roman vessels and their crews. 

A more stirring and eventful portion of the 
history of Majorca, is the capture of the capital 
from the Mohammedans by the Christian host, 
under the guiding of Don Jaime, the young 
King of Aragon. 

The Moors, with slight interruptions, had 
held possession of the island for upwards of four 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


33 


hundred years ; but the last day of the year 
1229 was the epoch of their final downfall. 

The night had arrived which preceded the 
vigil of the feast of the Circumcision ; and a 
general order had been issued to the Christian 
host that mass should he celebrated at dawn on 
the following day, and that all who wished 
should partake of the Holy Communion. After 
that, the army would prepare for action. 

It w 7 as broad day when the troops left their 
encampment, and occupied the level ground 
between the tents and the city. Don Jaime 
drew near to the infantry, which w T as posted 
in front of the cavalry, and said : “ Forward, 
valiant men, in the name of Christ; and occupy 
the place which our Lord God has given you! 

But the enemy were strong in number— 
stronger in the superiority of their position. 
And therefore, though all, horse and foot, had 
heard the king’s words, the men hesitated. 

It was the turning-point of the war—a crisis 
in the history of Majorca. 

r> 



34 


THREE WEEKS IN' MAJORCA. 


Troubled at heart, Don Jaime cast up his 
eyes to heaven, and invoked the blessed Virgin 
that, through her intercession, he might be 
saved from the impending disgrace and shame, 
and that the spirit of fortitude might be infused 
into the hearts of his soldiers. And again he 
called on his men to advance, using nearly the 
same w r ords as before. 

Moved by the king’s distress and the earnest¬ 
ness of his iterated appeal, the troops moved 
forward at a brisk pace, till they reached the 
spot where Don Jaime stood, that is, the breach 
by which they must enter the city. And then 
all the army, as with one voice, shouted “ Sancta 
Maria! Sancta Maria! ” Not once, but many 
times repeated, the cry rose louder and louder 
unto heaven ; and, with the name of the loving 
and lowly-minded Mary on their lips, they 
rushed furiously to the assault! 

Supernatural aid w r as not w r anting. Sud¬ 
denly there appeared at the head of the troops, 

visible both to Moors and Christians, a cavalier 

- 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


35 


mounted on a white charger and arrayed in 
glittering armour, who led the way through 
the breach, and was the first to enter the city. 
She whom they had invoked had sent the patron 
of the Aragonese cavalry to their aid; and under 
the leading of St. George success was certain. 

We cannot always trace legends like this of 
the old chronicler to their source. But, in the 
present instance, we know from another quarter 
the origin of the marvellous tale. 

Don Jaime, it appears, after the place was 
won, expressed a “ pious conviction ” that St. 
George had helped them. The idea was eagerly 
caught up by those about him, and assumed 
form and substance as it circulated through 
the army. 

The graphic power of the Catalan chronicler, 
exhibited as it is in the plainest possible lan¬ 
guage, is very remarkable; but his simplicity 
and good faith throughout his interesting His¬ 
tory of the Conquest of Mallorca are equally 
conspicuous. 


3G 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


At the taking of Palma, for instance, after 
the Christians had put the Saracens, as he calls 
them, ruthlessly to the sword, and sacked the 
houses indiscriminately, with naivete and uncon¬ 
sciousness almost amusing, he thanks the 
Author of all peace that there was no strife 
or discord over the spoil; because every man 
believed himself richer than the others, and, 
keeping his own secret in his own breast, con¬ 
gratulated himself on making a better find than 
his comrades. 

I can only do him justice by quoting his 
■words : “ Per ordinacio de nostre Senyor qui 
es actor e fahedor de pau, neguna brega ni dis- 
cordia no hi hach sembrada per las cosas ; com 
lo un creya esser pus rich que Taltre ; e tenent 
secret ab si creya que hagues mes cosas trobadas 
que’ls altres.” 

The cathedral of Palma, begun by Don Jaime 
in 1230, was brought to its present state, or 
at least made fit for worship, in 1346, when 
the table of the high altar was consecrated. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


37 


It occupies a commanding position above the 
sea ; and to any one entering or leaving the 
bay is a very imposing object. Its flying 
arches and deep buttresses give to its exterior 
an air of massiveness and grandeur ; and several 
of its doorways, of great height and elaborate 
carving, are deserving of minute inspection. 
The character of the interior, too, is striking. 
The lofty roof of the nave is supported by 
slender pillars of very graceful proportions ; 
and some good stained glass adds much to the 
general effect. 

A heavy sarcophagus of marble, containing 
the remains of Don Jaime II., son of the 
Conqueror, and second king of Majorca, is a 
conspicuous, but can hardly be called an orna¬ 
mental, feature. The pictures seemed to me 
indifferent; but there are two good figures of 
St. Bruno and St. John the Baptist, in the 
chapel of St. Peter; the former, especially, I 
thought very effective. The choir is large and 
handsome, but, according to a bad Spanish 


o8 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


custom, it is placed in the midst of the church, 
and so breaks the line of perspective, and 
destroys all integrity of architectural effect. 

The building is unfinished, hut the work of 
completion and embellishment is going rapidly 
forward, towards which the central government 
is a liberal contributor. And when the west 
front is finished, and the windows now blocked 
up are opened' and filled with stained glass, 
and the floor re-laid with marble,—all of which 
improvements are either in progress or con¬ 
templated ; above all, when the present choir 
is removed, and the high altar placed at the 
east end, the cathedral of Palma, though it will 
never be “the first in the world,” will hold 
a very creditable place among the Spanish 
cathedrals. 

The see of Palma is suffragan to the arch¬ 
bishopric of Valencia, and is at present filled 
by one who seems to have at heart the interest 
of the Church and the extension of its influence 
among the people. As I was told, he has 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


39 


recently raised considerably the standard of 
requirements, classical and theological, in his 
examination of candidates for holy orders, and 
has, at the same time, introduced increased 
strictness of inquiry into their moral and intel¬ 
lectual qualifications. 

The walk along the ramparts, embracing 
almost the entire circuit of the city, is a charm¬ 
ing one. On one side it is washed by the sea, 
and in summer must be a cool and delightful 
promenade. Some beds of flowers separating 
the walk from the cathedral, have a pretty 
effect. The bay of Palma on this side, spread¬ 
ing out far and wide below the eye, is shut in by 
the long stretching arms of the Cabo bianco to 
the east, and the Cabo de Cola jiguera on the 
west. 

I often took a turn on the ramparts ; and in 

the course of my walks observed evidence of 

* 

the growing energy and material improvement 
which at the present day distinguish the Spanish 
nation. In a rope-walk adjoining the city-y 


40 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


walls, the proprietor was erecting two of 
Ericsson’s caloric engines which had just arrived 
from Barcelona. In that great capital of com¬ 
mercial enterprise, the progress of Spanish skill 
and industry is particularly observable. Cotton- 
mills, silk and iron factories, are on a large 
scale, and exceedingly well conducted. I w r as 
told by one well acquainted with such things, 
that a factory in Barcelona had just turned out 
a couple of locomotives of unexceptionable 
quality, a successful effort of manufacturing 
enterprise until now r unheard of in Spain. New 
roads and railways are everywhere in course of 
construction; young men are studying the 
English language for the purpose of acquainting 
themselves with our latest mechanical improve¬ 
ments. Evidence of public spirit and enligh¬ 
tened patriotism is more and more discernible 
both in the press and in the debates of the 
Congress of Deputies. Everywhere there are 
signs of progress, and Spain seems destined to 
be an exception to the rule which declares that 



THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


41 


for a nation once decayed there remains no 
rehabilitation. She resembles one of her own 
old olive trees, which, gnarled and twisted, and 
apparently dead, will yet, when cut down, shoot 
forth with fresh vigour and renovated fruitful¬ 
ness; subject to decay, but incapable, appa¬ 
rently, of death. 

A little more in advance, is the Plaza de 
Toros , small, and seldom, if ever, used. It will 
not detract from my estimate of Spanish pro¬ 
gress, if I say that hull-fighting is one of the 

cosas de Espana that seem to he going out of 

* 

fashion. The press generally condemns it, 
especially since the recent death of the,. torero 
at Madrid. The ladies, as a rule, have ceased 
to countenance it. The priests have long been 
hostile to it, and now sharply denounce it, not¬ 
withstanding Mr. Windham’s celebrated assertion 
in our House of Commons, that bull-fighting is 
the surest way to maintain the connection 
between Church and State. It is very attrac¬ 
tive to the louver classes, and they crowd to a 


42 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


spectacle which has much dignity and grace in 
its earlier stages, and much terrible interest in 
its later. It is grand to see intellectual skill, 
and moral courage and coolness, opposed to, and 
prevailing over animal impulse and brute force. 
Nevertheless, some of the accompaniments are 
so revolting to everything like humanity and 
refinement, that it is easy to foresee that if the 
influences I have.-mentioned are perseveringly 
employed, bull-fighting in Spain will ere long 
come to an end; either suppressed, as in 
Portugal, by the Government, or else, through 
a change of feeling, voluntarily relinquished on 
the part of the people. 

Pursuing his walk along the ramparts, the 
spectator has directly before him the long moun¬ 
tain range I have more than once mentioned, 
and nothing can be more lovely and varied than 
the views it presents. The picture seemed 
always new * in distance and colour, in light 
and shade, changing continually with the chang¬ 
ing sky. Among the caves and recesses of 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


43 


these mountains, Don Jaime hunted down the 
fugitive Moors, and would not accept their 
submission, but on condition of their becoming 
slaves. 

Pity it is that earnestness and zeal should 
be so nearly allied to intolerance and cruelty! 
Pity, that virtues pushed to excess should 
become faults ! 

And yet, that is not the right way of putting 
the matter. It is not excess, it is deficiency 
that is to blame. Earnestness cannot be pushed 
to a vicious extreme, unless charity be first 
displaced. It is a complicated system of checks 
and balances which keeps the moral machinery 
of man's nature in good working order. When 
each virtue has its proper place, its due propor¬ 
tion, and intended action, and all work together 
in reciprocal bearing and harmonious opposition, 
then the man stands perfect and complete in all 
the will of God. 


CHAPTER Y. 


Alqueria of Eaxa.—Guardia Civil.—Liberality of Government, and 
Loyalty of People. —Descent on Soller. 

At Palma, I heard much of the beauty and 
fertility of Soller. It was the show place of the 
island ; and no stranger, I was told, omitted 
paying it a visit. There is no difficulty in 
reaching it, as a public conveyance plies daily 
between it and the capital; and the distance 
between the two places is little more than 
twenty miles. 

On the road, about seven miles from Palma, 
is the beautifully situated Alqueria, or Villa, of 
Raxa,* which contains some curious remains of 
ancient art; and the traveller will do well 
either to combine it with his visit to Soller, or 
make it, as I did, the object of an independent 

y 

journey. 


* Pronounced Rasha. 


THREE WEEKS JN MAJORCA. 


45 


Al-queria , or Al-caria, is an Arabic word, 
meaning the place of coolness, or the summer¬ 
house ; and to prefix the definite article to it is 
plainly incorrect. But the Spaniards do so in 
this, and in many similar instances; and the 
custom, though wrong, has become convenient. 

The villa is the property of the Count of 
Montenegro, and belonged formerly to Cardinal 
Despuig, a member of the family, who, during 
a long residence at Rome, had the opportunity 
of collecting various valuable antiquities. Many 
are the result of excavations made under his 
own direction. The best of the statues are in 
a portico, or peristyle, near the chief entrance. 
There is a spirited figure of a gladiator in a 
fighting attitude, which pleased me much. A 
statue, said to be that of the Emperor Nerva, is 
very good; as is also a bust discovered near 
the Appian Way, of which the turned-up nose 
and sneering lip confirm the statement of the 
catalogue, that it represents Diogenes, the cynic. 

In an adjoining room are many other figures 


46 


THREE WEEKS IN' MAJORCA. 


of great merit; among them an excellent 
statue of Hippolytus engaged in the chase, and 
accompanied by his dog; and a fine head of 
Augustus, said to be the best work in the col¬ 
lection. 

In the vestibule are a great number of ancient 
inscriptions, chiefly sepulchral, on tablets let 
into the wall. One is remarkable for being 
enclosed in a circle, within which is another 
concentric circle. Whether these circles, as 
it has been suggested, are borrowed from the 
Egyptians, and being without beginning or end, 
symbolize, as with them, the eternity of the 
Supreme, I cannot take upon me to determine. 
There are also a number of small bronzes in 
the collection well deserving of notice. 

In the town-house of the same noble pro¬ 
prietor are some good pictures, and a fine 
collection of ancient coins. A card of admission 
is necessary, both for the villa and town-house, 
which can be procured on application to the 
major-domo in Palma. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


47 


The grounds around the villa are skilfully 
laid out, well kept, and beautifully furnished— 
things very unusual in Spain. I saw a great 
variety of fine aloes, and many beautiful spe¬ 
cimens of the cactus. The villa is close to the 
mountains, and from a mirador on the top of a 
high hill overlooking the house and grounds 
there is a splendid view of Palma and of the 
sea beyond, and of the plain which is spread 
out before it. This last, from the elevation, 
looks like a boundless w r ood of olives. 1STo one 
should be in Palma without paying a visit to 
the Alqueria de Rax a. 

The distance is short from the villa to the 
Soller road, on rejoining which the traveller 
pursues his way across a plain full of gigantic 
olive trees overshadowing fields of pulse and 
grain. 

The diligencia in which I was, soon arrived 
at the foot of the mountains, where the road, 
turning sharply to the left, begins to wind up a 
wooded pass. I left the carriage, to prosecute/ 


48 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


my journey on foot, and have free enjo} r ment 
of the scenery. Mounting by a series of zig¬ 
zags, or making short and direct cuts across the 
angles of the road, I soon attained a consider¬ 
able elevation. As often as I looked back in 
the course of my ascent, I had before me some 
glorious and extensive view. But it is of no 
use attempting by ’word-painting to give an 
adequate idea of the beauty of the country. 
It was exceedingly pleasing; for grace and 
grandeur, the beautiful and sublime, were on all 
sides wonderfully combined. 

On my way I more than once fell in with a 
party of the Guardia Civil patrolling the road, 
and passed some of their stations. They are a 
fine force, and eleven thousand of them maintain 
order on the mainland and in the islands. All 
of them are picked men, and must have served 
at least one year in the regular army, from 
win , they are selected for their good conduct 
intelligence, and physical strength. They thus 
form an admirable body of police, equal to any 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


49 


in Europe. Their pay is two pesetas a day 
only, out of which they find everything hut 
their arms and ammunition. You meet them 
everywhere, and if local information is wanted, 
they are both able and willing, as I have often 
found, to supply it. They told me the country 
was quiet, and the roads perfectly safe ; and I 
have no doubt such is the case, and will continue 
to be so, as long as a strong government can be 
maintained, and the people will abstain from 
pronunciamientos and political disturbances, 
which for many years were the scourge and 
disgrace of Spain. And though this patrolling 
of the roads w r ith loaded muskets suggests the 
possibility, if not the existence, of brigandage, 
yet the fact is, that at present the Guardia 
Civil act only as rural police, for the repression 
of petty depredations ; and their duty is easily 
and mildly discharged. At one time, and that 
not very long ago, they used to be sharp and 
summary in the performance of their office. If 
they came upon a man violating the law, they 


E 


I 


50 THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 

called to him to surrender; and if he refused 
to give himself up, or tried to escape, they shot 
him without further ceremony. The report of the 
transaction at head-quarters Avas sufficient; and 
the off-hand proceeding saved a world of trouble, 
in the way of investigation and punishment. 

At different points, I observed a number of 
men engaged in the reparation or improvement 
of the road, which is a piece of good engi¬ 
neering, of great width, and constructed of 
« % 

excellent materials. The central government 
aids in the matter, and in general is most 
liberal in its grants to the islands; like our own 
government at home in its dealings with the 
Channel Islands, expending much more than it 
receives. And, to do the people justice, they 
are as much attached to the parent government 
as our loyal countrymen in the Channel. When 
i 1 . r <unt Montemolin and his brother endea- 
recently to overthrow the Queen and 
tution, an undertaking as ridiculous as it 
was reprehensible, the attempt Avas begun in 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


51 


Majorca, but met with no aid or sympathy on 
the part of the people; and the soldiers, who 
were drawn away under false pretences from 

4 

the island, the moment they discovered the 
true nature of the expedition, on landing near 
Valencia, at once, with their colonel at their 
head, flatly refused to participate in it. 

At last I attained the summit of the ascent, 
and looked down upon Soller. It lay far below, 
snugly nestled among orange groves, and shel¬ 
tered by a glorious amphitheatre of lofty hills"; 
rain had fallen in the earlier part of the day, 
and several waterfalls were sparkling in the 
sun. As I descended, the features of the 
country came out more distinctly, and every 
step increased my admiration. By means of 
terraces, supported by substantial and well-con¬ 
structed masonry, olive-trees were seen reach- . 
ing up the mountains till their dusky leaves 
blended with the fresher foliage of the pine 
and evergreen oak, or were stopped by some 
bare mass of precipitous rock. 


52 


THREE WEEKS IH MAJORCA. 


There is an interest about an olive tree beyond 
what its appearance or even its uses merit; an 

interest which goes further back than the naming 

% 

of Athens, or the gift of its goddess protectress. 
It recalls the time when the fountains of the 
deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, 
and the waters were abated from the earth. 
And while its dull and faded hue seems to wit¬ 
ness to a long submersion because of man’s sin, 
its unfailing verdure is a sure token of mercy 
and reconciliation on the part of God. 

Since the time of the Deluge, a common 
tradition has everywhere made it an emblem of 
peace between man and man ; for, as Bochart 
has shown, there is no country, however rude 
and remote, where it is not so regarded. It is 
with all a sign of love, as St. Augustine calls it, 
so precious that the old Jewish masters have 
i'.ig that “the olive leaf plucked off” 

; th; dove, was of no ordinary growdh, but 
was brought from their own Mount of Olives, 

Z 

or, as some affirm, from Paradise itself. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


53 


The fruit of the orange trees was mostly 
gathered, but there remained enough to give 
colour and richness to the plain ; and nothing 
can be more beautiful than a large orange tree 
with its bright green foliage specked with 
blossom, and at the same time “ blooming am¬ 
brosial fruit of vegetable gold." It is the reali¬ 
sation of the golden apples of the west,—“ Hes¬ 
perian fables true." I reached Soller, and 
found excellent quarters in the Fonda de la 
Paz . 


CHAPTER YI. 


Soller.—Mines.—Harbour.—Mules.—Bridge of La Ma.—Turkish 

Excursion. 

The Fonda de la Paz is small, but clean and 
comfortable ; the landlady, herself a cook and 
the daughter of a cook, I found to be hospitable 
and attentive ; the cuisine , as might be ex¬ 
pected, was remarkably good, the wine much 
above par, and the oranges delicious. Few 
bed-rooms could compare with mine in luxury 
and splendour, for though small and meanly 
furnished, the fragrance of the orange blossom 
came floating in through the open casement, 
and the rocky summit of the lofty Puig, with 
i ts dot i) shadows and glowing tints, was directly 
before my eyes. 

From the mirador , or little terrace at the top 
of the house, there is an excellent view of the 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


55 


vale of Soller and its surrounding mountains. 
The basin—for from this point the valley seems 
almost circular—cannot be much more than two 
leagues in circumference, say two leagues and a 
half; yet that area, if it include the lower 
slopes of the hills, realises annually, I was told, 
by the sale of oranges and lemons, shipped 
chiefly to Marseilles, 25,000/. sterling, and b} r 
oil, 30,000/. 

But though Soller is in the heart of the 
mountains, it is very slightly elevated above the 
sea-level. There is an opening to the north¬ 
west, through which its little river finds an easy 
way to the Mediterranean, and where the sea- 
breeze enters to temper the air in summer. 
The climate is mild all the year round, as the 
growth of the olive and orange tree and date- 
palm sufficiently testifies ; milder and more 
equable than anywhere on the mainland. In 
some years, once in a winter, snow falls, but it 
never lies more than two or three days. Snow¬ 
storms have been known in Soller, but they are 




56 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


most rare and exceptional. As a rule, the 
valley is temperate in winter, and the summer 
heat is never intolerable. 

There are some mines among the mountains 
from which silver and copper are extracted, and 
the proprietor, who happened to be staying at 
the fonda, with true Spanish courtesy, offered to 
show them to me. About an hour’s ride on 
two stout mules brought us high up among the 
hills where the mines are situated. They have 
been opened within the last two years, but 
though the shafts are numerous, the works are 
by no means as yet extensive. The ore when 
sorted is sent chiefly to London, where it sells 
for about fifty shillings a quintal, twenty-two 
quintals making one ton. I don’t know whether 
this price is remunerating, but it seems suffi¬ 
ciently encouraging to justify, for a while at 
least, :i undertaking which is another sign of 
Spanish enterprise and progress. 

After donning a suitable dress, I entered one 
of the excavations by a narrow opening, and 

r 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


57 


passed along a level where the men were work¬ 
ing. I dare say the sight might have been 
interesting to a geologist, and still more to a 
mineralogist, but the passage was narrow, the 
ground damp, and the air close. I was glad to 
return to daylight. 

I am not fond of the subterranean; it will 
come all in good time; but, while life permits, 
let me have fresh air and sunshine. 

A cigarillo was refreshing after the close 
confinement; and while smoking, I observed 
some little boys, hardly ten years of age appa¬ 
rently, who were engaged in breaking lumps 
of the metal into smaller pieces with little 
hammers, and sorting them at the mouth of 
the shaft, cast longing looks towards me and 
my paper-cigar. I distributed a packet among 
them, and they lost no time in beginning to 
use them. The bright-eyed little rascals! I 
believe they take to tobacco the moment they 
leave off mother’s milk. 

*We descended by another mule-track to the 


58 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


port of Soller, a small land-locked bay, sur¬ 
rounded by bills whose sloping sides are 
thickly covered with olive trees. It seemed 
a charming place for a swim. The water 

was deep and clear, and the shore, covered 

* 

with bright pebbles, shelved steeply down 
to it. 

Before leaving the mines, we had sent word 
to Soller to forward our dinner to the port; and 
soon after our arrival a mule laden with good 
things came up to us; and under the shadow 
of a large pine which overlooked the bay, and 
the olive-clad hills which rose above, and a 
picturesque old fort which commands the mouth 
of the harbour, we enjoyed a delightful pic-nic. 
Two pretty children (all Spanish children are 
pretty), a boy and his sister, looked on from a 
distance with awe and admiration. We asked 
them to join us ; and after they had partaken 
of our fare, they became very amusing with 
their chattering and gambols. 

The port is distant a short league from 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


59 


Soller, and we had a pleasant ride home over 
a good road and through a pretty country. 
The way they ride their mules in Majorca is 
very w T ell suited to a man in a contemplative 
or, as the case may he, a lazy mood. Two 
baskets, each of which will hold anything, from 
a bottle of wine to a portmanteau, are slung 
one on each side of the mule. On the top is 
thrown a dressed sheep-skin, on which the 
rider sits with his legs both on the near side, 
and his left foot supported by a projecting bit 
of w T ood, which serves every purpose of a 
stirrup. A halter directs the tractable and 
sure-footed beast, long enough to serve also for 
a whip should he require it. 

Walking is agreeable and exhilarating, if 
health and scenery be good; but on a warm 
day, and after dinner, I am not sure that the 
back of a mule is not quite as convenient a 
mode of getting along. 

On our way w T e crossed the bridge of La Mci , 
famous for the rout and slaughter of the Turks 


60 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


when they invaded the island about the middle 
of the sixteenth century.* 

The people of Soller had been forewarned 
of the coming calamity, and had taken steps 
for the defence of the port, and stationed sen¬ 
tinels on every point in the neighbourhood 
which commanded a view of the sea. They 
were waiting in anxious suspense for further 
intelligence, when, on Sunday, the 11th of May, 
1561, at three o’clock of the morning, the dis¬ 
charge of a gun from the fortress of the har¬ 
bour announced the appearance of the Turks, 
who effected a landing, not at the port, which 
was strongly guarded, but at a point near to it, 
and therefore not far distant from Sober. The 
bells of the town responded to the booming 
of the cannon, and the troops hurried to the 
rend ivous. Not one was missing, the his¬ 
torian relates ; for each man knew that hearth 
and altar needed his protection, and that none 

* Historia de la expugnaddn dc Soller por el cxercito dc OcchialU 
capitan pacha dc Tunez. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


61 


could keep away from that muster but recreants 
to their country and their God. 

And so the market-place was quickly filled 
with armed men, who, on their knees, with 
heads bowed over the stocks of their arque¬ 
buses, and lips pressed on their cross-hilted 
daggers, received the benediction of the priest, 
who had just celebrated the holy sacrifice of 
the Mass. They were but six hundred in 
number, most of them undisciplined in w T ar, 
and many imperfectly armed. But, prepared 
or unprepared, they must fight; and the hour 
was come which would prove whether or not 
they were the legitimate descendants of the 
valiant old slingers of the Balearic isles. 

So they marched forth, in the grey of the 
morning, with Juan Angelats, the Feudal of 
Unqueira, at their head, and the banner of St. 
George, w r hite with a red cross, waving in their 
midst. At a hurried pace they took the road 
to the harbour, and soon came in sight of the 
advancing enemy. The Turks at that early 


62 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


hour, had expected to take the town by surprise, 
and were not undeceived till they descried the 
Soller troops, who had halted to receive them. 

The two armies were four hundred paces 
apart, and the battle had begun between the 
advanced skirmishers, when the dreadful news 
reached the Christian commander that a body 
of Turks had attacked the defenceless town 
behind him, and were then engaged in sacking 
the houses and murdering the inhabitants. 

The enemy, on disembarking, it seems, by 
direction of Occhiali who commanded the expe¬ 
dition, had divided themselves into two bodies ; 
and of their whole force of thirteen hundred 
men, mostly Janissaries, the one half advanced 
on the direct Soller road, while the other, 
making a slight circuit, reached and attacked 
the place on the side furthest from the harbour. 

The “sons of Soller” w T ere hurrying to the 
rescue of their town and its helpless inhabitants, 
when the Turks, encouraged by this appearance 
of flight, fell furiously upon them. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


63 


It was a moment of extreme perplexity and 
distress to the Christians. On the one side 
was a population dearest to them of all human 
beings, crying to be saved from the most terrible 
of all earthly calamities; on the other was the 
foe pressing on their rear, and thirsting for 
their destruction. They could not reach the 
town but with heavy loss. As it was, they 
were not equal in number to one division of the 
enemy ; if they allowed the two to be united, 
there remained no reasonable hope of success to 
their diminished force. 

Soller must be sacrificed. So, maddened 
with the fate of their friends, and directing 
anew their prayers to the Holy Virgin, St. 
George, and Santiago, they turned on the 
pursuing foe. The rout of the Turks was the 
work of a moment. They were driven in con¬ 
fusion to the bridge of La Md which they had 
previously crossed ; and here, crowded and 
encumbered within the narrow battlements, 
numbers of them fell beneath the swords of the 


64 THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 

men of Soller, and more w r ere thrust by their 
own pressure into the bed of the river, and 
perished there. In vain Ysuf, their valiant 
leader, endeavoured to restore order and heart 
to his men. The Christians gave them no 
opportunity to rally, but continued to press 
furiously upon them till, in little more than a 
quarter of an hour, “ the ground was carpeted 
with Turkish carcases, and watered profusely 
with infidel blood.” 

After the loss of three hundred of his people, 
who were slain, besides those who were disabled 
by their wounds, Ysuf, having received a rein¬ 
forcement of four hundred men from Occhiali, 
who seems to have remained with the fleet, 
succeeded in drawing off his troops ; and some 
kind of order being re-established, he retreated 
towards the mountains, where he obstinately 
maintained the engagement. Ysuf had sworn 
that he wmuld die with arms in his hands, 
because, as the historian ill-naturedly insinuates, 

he was too fat to run away ; por su mucha 

/ 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


65 


olesidad , no podia salvarse en la fuga. And lie 
kept his word, for fighting to the last he fell, 
pierced with the lance of the bold Pedro Bisbal 
Garrova. 

The death of Ysuf was followed by the 
complete overthrow and dispersion of his com¬ 
mand. Some few of the fugitives succeeded 
in reaching their galleys, when Occliiali gave 
orders to raise anchor and hoist sail, and the 
disappointed crews made the best way they 
could to Algiers, vowing, in the name of the 

Prophet, that they would never again take part 

✓ 

in an “ excursion to Soller/’ 



CHAPTER VII. 

. - ' r . V K I 

Schools and Convents. 

Sollee is a town of increasing size and im¬ 
portance. Its present population, I believe, ex¬ 
ceeds nine thousand, but I could not ascertain 
exactly the number of its inhabitants, and, still 
less, what proportion they bear to the children 
under instruction. The replies I received on 
this latter point were so vague, or so contra¬ 
dictory, that I could attach no kind of import¬ 
ance to them. 

By an almanack of the present year, pub¬ 
lished in Palma, it appears that, according 
to the last census, the whole population of 
Majorca is 209,064, of which 29,969 can read 
and write. This is confessed to be a small pro¬ 
portion, but hopes are held out of a great 
improvement against the next census ; and ; 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


67 


these hopes, I should say, are in the way of 
ample realisation. It is wonderful what may 
he done when the national mind is roused to 
the necessity of exertion in this direction. Lord 
Brougham’s returns in 1818 showed that the 
proportion of week-day scholars to the esti¬ 
mated population, in England and Wales, was 
only 1 in 17*25. In 1858 it was 1 in 7.7. 

As regards Soller, judging from the infant- 
schools—which, being open to the street, are 
visible to the passer-by, and in which, in the 
course of my walks through the town, I was 
accustomed to see a great number of happy 
little faces—I came to the conclusion that the 
education of the poor, if not sufficient, is by no 
means neglected. 

But though I could not discover the quantity, 
it occurred to me I might, in some degrc ~ of 
least, test the quality of public instruction, by 
visiting one or tw r o of the principal schools. 

Accordingly, I 'went one day to what jl *vas 

told was the largest boys’ school for the poor; 

✓ 

' F 2 

• » 


68 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


and having introduced myself to the master, 
and talked a little to his scholars, I asked him 
if he would kindly allow me to put a few 
questions to the children. He consented at 
once, and I desired the two first classes to stand 
up. I then asked them to repeat the Pater 
Noster and Credo , for I wished to show, in 
limine , that I was a Christian as well as they— 
a fact which I had found, in my travels through 
Spain, to he generally doubted the moment 
people knew me to be an Englishman. They 
did as I desired. 

The old words, coming to me in a new 
tongue, from foreign lips, in a land far from 
home, fell strangely but pleasantly on the ear. 
I felt that I was one with those poor children. 
And while Rome holds to these ancient and 
hallowed forms, we have the satisfaction of 
- ing that we have with her a common 

-and of belief and a common rule of devotion. 
W ould to God that the Church whose faith we s 
once spoken of throughout the whole world, ha 3 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


69 


not, by later developments, as unauthorised as 
they are novel, built up a wall of separation 
between us! 

I then put a few questions in religion, care¬ 
fully steering clear of all controverted subjects, 
which they answered, on the whole, satisfac¬ 
torily. The performance in geography, to which 
we went next, was a failure ; but I am not 
sure that my w r ay of putting the proper names 
to the children might not be partly in fault. 
We proceeded next to grammar, in which 
they acquitted themselves much better. I was 
pleased with the readiness and accuracy with 
which they conjugated some irregular Castilian 
verbs which I proposed to them. The master 
then asked me to examine them in arithmetic ; 
but, not being well up in the Spanish weights 
and measures, and unwilling to expose my 
ignorance, I replied that I would rathe] 
that part of the examination in his 
So we gathered—master, children, and ir- 
round a great black board, just like being at 


70 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


home. Various sums were given in reduction, 
rule-of-three, and fractions, which the children 
worked very readily and uncommonly well. 
The writing was the thing which pleased me 
most; it was very superior to what I have 
ordinarily seen in our national schools at home. 
I asked the number of the children ; and the 
master said he had a hundred and twenty on 
his books, but the attendance fell considerably 
short of that. 

There was one little fellow, who bad evi- 
dently mistaken his place, for he ought to have 
been at an infant school. He came toddling up 
to me, and volunteered a lesson in his Castilian 
primer, and went through some words of two 
syllables very creditably. As a reward for 
saying so good a lesson, I made him a small 
present, on which he lisped out his gracias , and 
held up his little mouth to be kissed. They 
are a warm-hearted affectionate race, these 
Mallorquines. 

On taking my leave, I made the boys a little 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


71 


speecli in my best Castilian. I told them I had 
come a long way, and across a stormy sea, to 
visit their country, which was rich and beautiful, 
far beyond what I had expected ; that I had 
talked with many of the inhabitants, and was 
much pleased with their manner and kindness ; 
and that, on my return to England, I would tell 
all my friends what good children there are in 
Mallorca, and how well they are taught. The 
master bowed his acknowledgments, the children 
smiled their satisfaction, and v T e parted the best 
possible friends. 

The next day I went to the old convent of 
San Fernando, in which, under the charge of 
ten nuns, there are two girls’ schools; one for 
infants, who are received at the age of four 
years, and another for those of more advanced 
age, including adults. These last, in addition 
to religious instruction, and reading, wrt ; ncr 
and arithmetic, are taught sewing, ■ ■ ! ing 
lery, and lace making. Besi 
■.; 5 , as the lady superior who showed me 


7 '2 THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 

over the place informed me, boarders also are 
received from the neighbourhood, and share in 
the general instruction. And thus the school 
is composed partly of the daughters of the 
smaller proprietors, who are a numerous class 
in and about Soller, and partly of the children 
of the poor. But poor and rich sit together, 
occupying the same bench ; and I think I never 
saw such a number of clean, pretty, happy- 
looking young people assembled together before. 
The poor are taught gratuitously, all the ma¬ 
terials of instruction being found them; the 
wealthier children pay five reals * a month for 
tuition. Government gives its aid, and the 
landowners, very fitly, contribute their quota 
towards the maintenance of this and similar 
schools. In the large towns throughout the 
Spanish dominions, the Ayuntamientos , or mu¬ 
nicipal corporations, have power, w 7 ith the 
consent of Government, to levy an educational 
rate; but in villages, and the smaller popu- 


* About a shilling. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


73 


lations like that of Soller, the expense is borne, 
as I have said, partly by Government, partly by 
the landowners, and partly by a certain class of 
the pupils. The clergy are the inspectors, and 
either the cur a of the parish, or his assistant, 
visits the schools weekly, directing the religious 
instruction, and examining into the progress of 
the jDupils in their secular learning. 

I confined my examination of the school of 
San Fernando to an inspection of the copy¬ 
books ; and here, as at the boys’ school, I was 
much struck with the correctness and neatness 
of the writing. But here, also, as at the boys’ 
school, there was a great discrepancy between 
the personal and nominal attendance ; the latter 
was two hundred, the former not nearly so 
much. 

Education in Spain is compulsory by the 
law, and the time is fixed at which children 
must attend school, as well as the age at 
•hey a e permitted to leave. I had heai 

, * tatements about the law, and about the 


74 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


way in which it is carried into effect. Some 
told me it was enforced by fine or imprisonment, 
but I had come to the conclusion that if such a 
law existed, it was very leniently administered ; 
and this conviction was verified by subsequent 
inquiries. The law is a useful weapon to have 
at hand for the correction of flagrant and 
obstinate cases of parental neglect; but it is 
obviously one which, with a high-spirited people 
like the Spaniards, must be handled delicately, 
and applied very sparingly and judiciously. 

I should say the system works well upon the 
whole, and the best results may reasonably be 
anticipated. We have been accustomed to call 
Spain benighted; but in the matter of the 
education of the poor, we might profitably take 
a leaf out of her book, did not our unhappy 
religious differences stand in the way. It is the 
jealousy and rivalry of sects, the consequence 
or abuse of our religious liberty, which, as 
regards education, as well as many other bene¬ 
volent objects, make it impossible for us to , 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


75 


work as the Spaniards do, with one will towards 
the same end. 1STo expedient can he devised, 
and many have been tried, to remedy the evil. 
The worm lies at the root of the plant, and it is 
hopeless to attempt to extract it. 

I have said, the girls’ school I visited is held 
in the Convent of San Fernando, under the 
superintendence of ten Sisters ; and this is by 
no means a solitary instance of a convent and 
its sisterhood being turned to educational uses. 
When the convents and monasteries* of Spain 
were dissolved and their property confiscated, 
the monks, as a rule, were ejected. But many 
of the nuns, mindful of their sacred vows, or 
unwilling to mingle with a world for whose 
pleasures and pursuits long habit had disqualified 
them, clung to their ancient homes ; and their 
continuance therein was connived at, either 
from pity or shame, by the Government of 
day. I am unable to say from which 

j.\ * 

* Sk b. y speaking, I bqjieve only the houses of the B ' . : 

;o.i, m i •! ries ; tlie rest are convents.] 


76 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


proposal emanated, but an arrangement was 
concluded, that during their continuance they 
should add to their religious duties the instruc¬ 
tion of the young; and thus many of the nun¬ 
neries have become seminaries of education. 

It is no new thing for religious houses to be 
put to this use : it is a revival of a good and 
ancient custom. And we may venture to say, 
that the daily sacrifice of prayer and praise 
does not go up to Heaven for a less acceptable 
memorial, because it is accompanied with the 
daily offering of active charity. Pensions were 
assigned, at the time of the suppression, to the 
actual members of the religious houses; but as 
regards the monks at least, it is understood that 
they shall terminate with the existing holders. 

It is not so in every case with the sisters. 
Their numbers are recruited ; but vows are not, 
as formerly, indispensable. When the property 
was confiscated, the buildings were generally 
sold or secularized by the Government. A good 
many nunneries remain ; but it is only here and , 


THREE WEEKS 1H MAJORCA. 


77 


there throughout Spain, that a convent of 
resident monks on a reduced scale is tolerated ; 
either as being a seat of venerable and sacred 
traditions, like Monserrat, or as containing some 
precious monument of national interest, like the 
Carthusian Convent near Burgos; where the 
few inmates flit about like ghosts of former 
tenants—pale, silent, and disconsolate. 

That convents and monasteries were multi¬ 
plied in Spain far beyond what the interests' of 
religion required, or the exigencies of the state 
could allow, fe^w, I think, v r ill doubt. In Palma 
and its neighbourhood, twelve brotherhoods 
and eleven sisterhoods existed before the sup¬ 
pression in 1835 and 1836 ; and though, of 
course, a large proportion of the monastic 
revenues found its way to the poor, yet such 
distribution was not favourable to productive 
industry, nor does it seem consistent with the 
primeval law which apparently in judgment, bat 

re at r in mercy, ordains that man shall earn 

/ 

hi- ' ead by the sweat of his brow. 


78 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


At the same time, we may be allowed to 
think that the suppression of the religious 
houses was far too sweeping in Spain; or, at 
least, that a considerable portion of their 
revenues ought to have been permanently 
applied to the support of religion and the 
advancement of education, according to the 
original intention of their endowment. But as 
it was found at the time of our own Reforma¬ 
tion, it is much easier to pull down than to build 
up; especially when the destructive process 
originates, as it did in Spain, from political 
motives with an infuriated mob, and there is a 
needy Government ready to take advantage of 
the movement. 

In the general suppression of the religious 
houses, the superficial observer regrets the loss 
of the aesthetic and the picturesque; the convent 
bell, the cowled and sandaled monk. But that 
is a small thing compared with the substantial 
benefits which might have resulted to the na¬ 
tion, if, after a partial suppression and judicious 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


79 


reform, a certain number of the old religious 
houses—once the sanctuary of religion, the 
refuge of learning, and the nurse of civilisa¬ 
tion,—had been legally and permanently re¬ 
tained. I have heard thoughtful and intelligent 
Spaniards talk in this way; and I confess, I am 
very much of their opinion. 





CHAPTER VIII. 


Religion, Bigotry, and Persecution. 

I have placed Religion at the head of this 
chapter. But don’t he alarmed, gentle reader ; 
I am not going to involve you in a theological 
controversy, or even to mention the important 
doctrinal differences which unhappily separate 
the Roman and Anglican communions. Such 
matters are not admissible into a book like this. 
Besides, they have been disposed of long ago, 
as far as they are capable of settlement. And 
if the contest between the two Churches should 
hereafter be revived, we must be content, in 
combating Roman error, to borrow well-used 
weapons from other people’s armouries. Our 
danger, however, as it appears to me, does not, 
just now at least, lie in that direction. With 
us, people are less disposed to believe too 


THREE WEEKS Itf MAJORCA. 


81 


much than too little. They are not likely to be 
enslaved by superstitious tendencies, or led 
astray by over deference to ecclesiastical au¬ 
thority. They are saved from that extreme by 
other guidance ; by free inquiry, the verifying 
faculty, private judgment run mad. 

I will not therefore speak of the peculiar 
doctrines of Rome ; but I will say a few words 
about the visible and ceremonial peculiarities of 
her religion, and about those who officially 
administer them ; for it is they who come in 
the way of the passing traveller, and are, more 
than anything else, animadverted on by com¬ 
mon-place observers. 

In Majorca, at least, I should say the clergy 
hold a good social position, and in the main 
discharge conscientiously their sacred duties. 
The former assertion rests on my seeing them 
on friendly and familiar terms, in the public 
promenades, with the influential laity . the 
Later on the conduct and unvarying testimony 
of the poorer classes, among whom, as a traveller 


G 


82 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


without introductions, I was principally thrown. 
I have already spoken of the improvement 
likely to result, and indeed already perceptible, 
from the endeavours on the part of the Bishop 
to increase the respectability and influence of 
the parochial clergy. Their property has been 
taken from them, but not confiscated. Through¬ 
out Spain, and in the Balearic Isles, the state 
has taken their lands into its keeping, all 
but the beneficios de sangre , which, being con¬ 
sidered private property, remain as they were. 
And I v 7 as told that, under state nursing, the 
ecclesiastical revenues are much increased,—to 
somebody’s disadvantage, I presume; and that 
they are honestly paid to those who have a 
right to receive them. This is so far satisfac¬ 
tory. But setting aside the temptation always 
present to the government of appropriating 
in its necessities what it has full and irrespon¬ 
sible control of, and the danger of subordinate 
officials being unfaithful to their trust, the 
respectability and influence of the clergy, as 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


83 


affected by the loss of ostensible proprietorship, 
especially in the rural districts, is a thing to be 
considered. 

No less to be considered is the responsibility 
of administration, which is inseparable from pro¬ 
perty, and attaches of right to the proprietor. 
Sancho Panza* was willing to sit and receive 
the rents of his earldom, and, with outstretched 
legs, to enjoy himself out of them. But the 
Canon reminded him that there were such 
things as ability, good judgment, and above all, 
upright intention, which were looked for in the 
principal, and could not be transferred to an 
agent. 

And now a few words as to rites and cere¬ 
monies ; things formal and external. That 
these in a measure conduce to decency and 
id are even to some extent indispen- 
I, deast in this material world of o* all 

bu> ers—the most formal and ceremonious 

* of m by the bye—will readily admit. With 

1 * “Don Quixote,” parte I. cap. L. 

G 2 


84 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


regard to these, therefore—always supposing 
they are not exponents of doctrinal error—it 
is merely a question of less or more. 

The Spaniards are eminently ceremonialists. 
I think it is partly the fault of their climate. 
Children of the sunny south, they are more 
excitable and demonstrative than we northern 
people, who make no sign, but bottle uj) our 
feelings to keep ourselves warm. 

With the Spaniard, on the contrary, religion 
is sensible and obtrusive. It colours his most 
trifling actions, and gives a tone to his com¬ 
monest remarks and most ordinary salutations. 
He does not ascend a date-tree without first 
making the sign of the cross. Instead of wish¬ 
ing his friend good-day, he commends him to 
God. If you offer him what he considers a 
bad peseta, he will probably say, No es catolica. 
It was always so. Como catolico ! said Sancho 
Panza, patting his wine-skin. His fetes, and 
shows, and processions, have not only a reli¬ 
gious origin, but a religious expression. While,, 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


85 


lie enjoys himself, he honours his saints and 
displays his religion. San Isidro at Madrid, or 
San Vicente de Ferrer at Valencia, or San 
Sebastian at Palma, or our Lady of Victory at 
Soller, give name and occasion, and, as I well 
believe, sobriety and order, to his festivity and 
junketing. 

And a pleasant thing it is, on a hill-side, or 
in the dry bed of a river, or orf the sea-beach, 
or by the side of an orange-grove, as the case 
may be, to see family groups, after their public 
devotions have been paid, seated round their 
several baskets, temperately enjoying their frugal 
fare, while the young people near them are 
gaily keeping time to the guitar or castanets. 
New Year’s Eve (the Eve of the Circumcision) 
is not so innocently observed in Glasgow and 
Edinburgh. 

But the churches are the places where reli¬ 
gious ceremonies are most observable, and the 
Spaniards are great church-goers. In Majorca, 
the women go twice a day to church, and the . 


86 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


men every Sunday and Fiesta. “ Son muy 
leviticos ”—“ they are very levitical,” as I heard 
a Madrid gentleman say of them. But church¬ 
going, though a ceremony, and the mother of 
ceremonies, is not necessarily superstitious and 
unprofitable, and we have no right to condemn 
it. Foote was once asked by a lady who took 
a great interest in his spiritual welfare, if he 
ever went to church. “No,” said he, “ I never 
go ; but I must say, I see no harm in it.” 

Among their religions customs, the Mallor- 
quines have one which deserves particular 
mention. It is not confined to Majorca, but I 
heard of it there for the first time ; and there, 
I believe, it is more generally observed than 
elsewhere. On Easte^ Eve it is usual, especially 
in the rural districts, for every family, well to 
do, to kill a lamb; and on Easter Bay the 
filer ds and relations assemble to eat it. Pro¬ 
bably a portion is set aside for some poor 
neighbour who has not a lamb to lab or 
perhaps a portion is sent to another neighbour. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


87 


in mourning, with whom under such circum¬ 
stances it is not etiquette to kill a lamb. I 
must say I see no harm in it. The Mallor- 
quines know well whom the lamb represents, 
and what the offering means; and their mutual 
affection and common rejoicing are not thereby 
impaired. Son muy leviticos; that is, they 
comply with the letter of the Old Testament in 
the spirit of the New; and that is very like 
being Bible Christians. 

But, then, in common with the rest of the 
Spaniards, they are bigoted. 

Well, as a rule, they do prefer their own 
religion to all others, and hold to it obstinately 
and exclusively. I wish we had a little of this 
sort of bigotry among oun Laodiceans at home. 

But they persecute other people who do not 
happen to agree with them. 

I never experienced anything like persecu¬ 
tion in Majorca; the very contrary, as I grate¬ 
fully remember and willingly testify. I have 
no doubt the Spaniards, generally, have often 


88 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


persecuted. What nation, Church, or sect can 
claim exemption from the charge % They least 
of all, who in our day declaim loudest about 
liberty of conscience. 

But let us do Spain justice. In the days of 
Queen Mary, the Confessor of King Philip her 
husband, set his face against English persecu¬ 
tion ; and perhaps in our day something may 
be said in mitigation of English censure. 

First of all, be it remembered, persecution, 
as it is called, whether right or wrong, is only 
a question of degree. A man, even in England, 
cannot preach what he likes. He may not 
openly impugn the Christian faith, or seek to 
overthrow Christian morals. 

Again, it is a question of kind. We have 
disabilities strictly analogous to those com¬ 
plained of. In the practice of medicine, there 
are restrictions and qualifications which the 
law carefully interposes and peremptorily exacts 
, for the protection of our bodies; and the 

Spaniard argues, logically as it appears to me,. 

v 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


89 


that if a government in its paternal character 
cares for what is less, d fortiori , it is bound to 
protect what is greater. 

But let us look at the question nearer. 

It is quite true that an Englishman cannot 
do in Spain what he may do at home. He 
cannot open a conventicle where he likes, and 
preach any extravagance of Protestantism that 
comes into his head. But in the large towns 
where our countrymen most do congregate, 
as Barcelona, Malaga, Cadiz, and Madrid, he 
can join in public worship, and hear sermons 
in his own tongue, after the manner of the 
religion established at home. 

Recently, at Seville, a meeting for public 
worship at the house of the British Consul was 
suppressed; but there were local reasons for 
this, which we may expect will be only of tem¬ 
porary duration; the more so if the report be 
true, that the Archbishop was not opposed 10 
the celebration. 

The Constitution of the Spanish monarchy 


90 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


declares broadly * that the religion of the 
Spanish nation is Catholic , Apostolic , Roman . 
But this, strictly construed, affects only the 
Spanish people. In Lord HowdeiTs time, if I 
have been rightly informed, permission was ob¬ 
tained, and published by a royal ordinance, for 
celebrating public worship at the British con¬ 
sulates, subject to certain conditions. Whether 
these conditions were observed at Seville, I am 
unable to say. I am inclined to think not. 
But be this as it may, one thing is certain, there 
is in Spain a growing disposition to relax reli¬ 
gious restrictions. There is a large body in 
favour of such relaxation. Not a few of the 
parochial clergy are well disposed to it; the 
men of progress, who are many, are entirely 
for it; the men of indifference, who are more, 
are not opposed to it. Should the Constituent 
Cortes be again assembled, most probably they 
would pass some general measure of religious 

toleration. In 1855 a bill to that effect was 

4 


* Tit. I. art. 11. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


91 


lost by only two votes. I entertain no doubt, 
that, if the Spaniards are not interfered with, 
their growing intelligence, and the example of 
other European nations holding the same form 
of faith with themselves, will lead them to 
revise and modify existing disabilities of a reli¬ 
gious kind. 

But I cannot think the English take the best 
way to bring about this result. 

I have attended' divine service where I heard 
the officiating minister, in a long extempore 
prayer, dwell with great unction on the dark¬ 
ness of the unhappy country which at the time 
was giving us protection and liberty of worship. 
I was perforce innocent in the matter, for I 
cannot join in extempore prayer. Before there 
is time to consider wdiat has been said, and say 
Amen , if it be all right, the speaker is half way 
through the next petition, and I cannot ask 
him to Q top, and take me with him. 

So I kept my seat, and meditated on the 
parable of the two men who went up to the / 


92 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


temple to pray—the one a Pharisee, and the 
other a Publican. 

Again, I have heard a clergyman in his 
sermon openly denounce the superstition and 
idolatry of the established church of the land 
His predecessor, I was told, sent out under the 
auspices of the same Society as himself, began, 
on his arrival, to distribute tracts among the 
people. As might have been expected, the 
Bishop of the place denounced him to the 
Captain - General, and the Captain - General 
placed him under arrest, and he was only 
relieved from his disagreeable position, at the 
intercession of the British Consul, on condition of 
his proceeding by the next boat to Marseilles. 

Now, I honour a man, however pig-headed, 

who resolutely pursues what he considers to be 

« 

the course of duty, but he must be prepared to 
take the consequences of his zeal. While trans¬ 
gressing the law of a foreign land, he has no 
right to appeal to his own country for pro¬ 
tection. He must not expect, without cost to 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


93 


himself, to force odious doctrines on unwilling 
ears ; that would be to shift the burden of 
persecution, as he calls it, from his own shoulders 
to those of other people. 

The repeated discussions in our House of 
Commons on the subject of Spanish intolerance, 
have been still more mischievous than private 
meddling, in preventing amelioration. The 
Spaniards are a sensitive and high-minded 
people, and I have heard men who all their 
lives long have been distinguished by earnest¬ 
ness and activity in the cause of religious free¬ 
dom, declare with bitterness, that they would 
much prefer the continuance, or even the aggra¬ 
vation of their religious restrictions, to English 
dictation or English interference. 

Concerning persecution, then, I think the 
English have little ground of complaint. With 
regard to the instances, so frequently and osten¬ 
tatiously paraded, of Spaniards suffering on 
cc ' of their religious opinions, we a:. 
tell every instance how far zeal for religious 


94 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


truth has been made the cloak of political 
licentiousness. And, at the best, it should be 
borne in mind, that it is not for holding certain 
opinions, but for expressing and disseminating 
them, that these persons suffer. And anyone 
who takes in hand to overthrow a national 
religion, must be content to suffer persecution, 
and even to glory in it. If he suffer for con¬ 
science sake, he merits our compassion ; but 
active interference on our part, like that of Don 
Quixote between the boy Andres and his master, 
will assuredly lead to no other result than 
increase of severity. 

A Spaniard who feels he has neither taste 
nor vocation for preaching and persecution can 
hold what opinions he likes. Should he prefer it, 
he can live without the practice or profession of 
any religion whatever. His priest will probably 

visit him to ascertain if he has communicated at 

* 

Easter, but he needs not answ r er the inquiry, or 
even endure a repetition of the visit. If he 
wishes to read the Holy Scriptures he can do so 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


95 


in his own tongue and in the sanctuary of his 
own home, no man forbidding him; at least, I 
have frequently seen copies of the Bible in Cas¬ 
tilian on book-stalls and in shops in Spanish 
towns, and I presume what is publicly, exposed 
may be generally used. 

Still, if religious restrictions be found to 
press heavily and unjustly in Spain upon tender 
consciences; and I am not denying there may 
be such cases ; I believe that nothing is required 
but a little time and patience for their removal 
or mitigation, provided the self-elected cham¬ 
pions of religious freedom all over the world, 
will abstain from mischievous and impertinent 
interference. In the application of the remedy, 
it is to be hoped the Spanish government will 
employ caution and judgment. Though difficult 
to find, there must be somewhere a just medium 
in religious toleration, where a maximum of 
relief is combined with a minimum of dc ; 
but onsiderate haste is more likely to overrun 

4 

ban d scover it. 


96 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


With us, the spirit of the age cares little for 

truth, and laughs at unity. To some it matters 

* 

not in the least whether the oneness in 
body and in spirit, on which the Bible so 
frequently and earnestly insists, and which, to a 
very large extent, prevails at present in Spain, 
be rudely broken up, and heresy and schism run 
riot through the land, embittering domestic 
relations, excluding community of action in 
works of piety and mercy, crippling or nullify¬ 
ing every effort of the authorised pastor, and 
widely establishing political disaffection on the 
basis of religious dissent. The mass of the 
Spanish people think differently, and be they 

right or wrong, in their own country we have 

/ 

no right to interfere with their convictions. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Socialism.—Spanish infantry. 

Among the most striking peculiarities of 
Spanish character is the social equality which, 
to the most superficial observer, distinguishes 
the intercourse of classes, an equality which is 
everywhere seen, and which, as we find abund¬ 
antly in “ Don Quixote,” existed in Spain at a 
time when political liberty w T as well nigh ex¬ 
tinct. 

A waiter enters into familiar conversation 
with the guests he is serving ; he gives his 
opinion, or communicates what he know T s, just 
as if he were one of the party. A maid walks 
side by side with her mistress in the public 
promenade. They are criticising sonn 
dross. exchanging friendly remarks on the 
child' who accompany them, and who seem 


i 9 

) 


> 


n 


98 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


to be common property, from the common in¬ 
terest with which they are regarded. On the 
Rambla, or Alameda, when the w r alk is most 
crowded,—if we may use a superlative form to 
express what is ordinary, for the Spaniards 
seem to be always out of doors, and always 
frequent the same promenades,—you will see a 
mechanic or common labourer ask a light for 
his cigarillo from the highest and proudest. 
The request is frankly made, and as frankly 
conceded. No apology is expressed, because 
none is expected; no condescension is shown, 
for none is experienced. The little transaction 
is a matter of course. You enter a cafe, bril¬ 
liant with gilding and glass and painting. 
There is a select company at a table, dressed to 
the top of the fashion. A stalwart form walks 
in, with a handkerchief about his brow and 
alpargdtas, or hempen sandals, on his feet. He 
seats himself at the same table, calls for a cup 
of colfee, which costs him a real, and is per¬ 
fectly at home with his neighbours. He is a 


* 



o 


o % 
o O 
')0 1 > 
9 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


09 


gentleman like themselves, one of nature’s gen¬ 
tlemen, and they know him to he such. They 
know that he respects himself, and that, for 
that very reason, he will not be wanting in all 
due respect to his superiors. 

How is this marked peculiarity of Spanish 
manners to be accounted for \ It is different 
from what we see at home. 

Christianity is at the bottom of it. I don’t 

.1 

say a better or a different religion from our 

* A ' J' 4 $' $ A 

Jf' . l+VSKth*#**' 1 

own, but one of a bolder and more demon- ' 
strative character. 

Natural religion taught that all men were of 
one blood under heaven, but the lesson was 
insufficient. Christianity supplied what was 
wanting, and exhibited a fellowship of souls as 
well as bodies ; all of the same value, because 
all bought with the same price ; all mystically 
united under a common Head, and that head, 
in infinite condescension, calling eac one 
brother. 

j\. ■ Established Church has something to do 



100 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


with it, which fuses ranks, making a peasant’s 
son Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and while 
it places some of the lowest on a level with the 
highest, gives to each of its ministers independ¬ 
ence and boldness to tell one class that, as 
Christians, they must render to all their dues, 
honour to whom honour is due, and another 
class, that they in their turn, as Christians also, 
must love as brethren, and be pitiful and cour¬ 
teous. If it be asked, why the same cause 
produces not everywhere the same result, I 
cannot tell. ’ Perhaps preaching is plainer and 
more practical in Spain than in some other 
places. 

Unity of faith and worship has much to do 
with it. Pride and independence, conceit and 
exclusiveness, are created or aggravated by 
separation ; and separation, at least open sepa¬ 
ration, is a thing unknown in Spain. On the 
other hand, to go to the House of God as 
friends, to kneel on the same floor, and commu¬ 
nicate at the same altar, naturally, and almost 



THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


101 


necessarily, leads to mutual respect and good 
will, the very essence of brotherhood, and 
Christian socialism. 

• 

But, in connection with religion, history exhi¬ 
bits another cause to elucidate the question. 

Not only is the pride of wealth, especially of 
w T ealth suddenly and largely acquired, rarely to 
be found in Spain, but the pride of birth is little 
observable. There is no dominant race of 
foreign extraction in Spain, as the Normans 
were for centuries among ourselves; and though 
the fact has disappeared, its traditions remain. 
The Moors shattered in pieces the old Gothic 
aristocracy ; and for the expulsion of the Moors 
there sprang from the ranks strong and valiant 
adventurers who achieved their own nobility. 
And so, if the term may be allowed, a popular 
aristocracy arose, which cared little for ances¬ 
tral distinction, but gloried in being cada uno 
hijo de sus obras* 

•'G that time the extraction on which " 


* Each one the son of his own deeds. 


102 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


Hidalgo plumes himself has been of a religious 
kind. To be a Christian, viejo y rancioso, pure 
from all taint of Jewish or Mahommedan blood, 
is the nobility he delights in. And the feeling 
is general, though the distinction cannot be 
genealogically established. 

Pride there is, and over-sensitiveness, enough 
and to spare, among the Spaniards; but they are 
not peculiar to a class, they belong to all alike ; 
they are national and not personal, and so do 
not affect the question I am considering. 

If these reasons do not account for social 
equality in Spain, I can assign none more satis¬ 
factory. The fact remains, and its tendencies 
are most agreeable to a stranger in the country 
thrown upon his own resources. In his chance 
companions, whatever be their rank in life, he 
is sure to find, even among the poorest, sociality 
and good fellowship, controlled at all times by a 
gravity and self-respect which never, in any 
instance I have known, allow any, the least, 
infringement of propriety and decorum. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


103 


Another thing which I have observed in Spain 
may be introduced here as a corollary to my 
proposition about social equality, and that is, 

the kindliness of manner, the affectionate 

• 

address, which characterises the intercourse of 
the people one with another. In family privacy 
it is, I believe, the expression of deep and de¬ 
voted attachment. This I had little opportunity 
of observing. I speak of what I daily witnessed 
in public among all classes, but especially among 
the common soldiers. With them, I think, 
companerismo , as they call it, finds its perfection, 
constantly exhibiting itself in terms of endear¬ 
ment, affectionateness of manner, and mutual 
acts of kindness. Often I have been touched 
by observing a group of them dividing with 
each other their little stock of biscuits and 
tobacco, or, on a sultry day, passing from hand 
to hand the glass of water (the Spaniards are 
all wonderful water-drinkers), as if each was 
. I' \ng to drink till his comrade wa satis- 
. honour preferring one another. 1 don't 


104 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


know that they are more kindly-affectioned one 
to another than our people at home, but their 
kindness is more demonstrative. 

Spaniards complain that Englishmen are 
wanting in companerismo , that they are not 
simpciticos ; there is some truth in this, and it 
partly accounts for our unpopularity. The 
Englishman will not, or cannot, conciliate. In 
everything he is a contrast to the Spaniard : the 
latter, though social, is sensitive and ceremo¬ 
nious ; the former, especially on his travels, is 
neither the one nor the other; he is continually 
shocking or wounding people’s feelings, often 
unconsciously, always heedlessly. He pays his 
way honestly, and for the most part, spends his 
money freely. But the Spaniard wants more 
than this. He looks for acts of courtesy and 
words of kindness, and he is often disappointed, 
though he readily and warmly responds when 
he finds them. 

One evening I had walked up to a castle, 
called Bellver , built by Don Jaime II. on the 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


105 


site of an old Moorish fort, about a league from 
Palma. I had seen the place and was about to 
return : the sun was setting behind me ; directly 
below lay the city, dominated by its massive 
cathedral; the range of mountains on the left 
w r as flooded with light; far away, to the south¬ 
east, lay the blue hills of Cabrera, resting on the 
edge of the glassy Mediterranean. It was a 
scene worth looking at, and I sat down on a low 
wall to enjoy it at leisure. Some of the soldiers 
of the fort came about me, pleased, I suspect, 
with my admiration of their country. I entered 
into conversation with them, and found they 
were a detachment of a regiment which had 
served in the African war. I told them that 
about two years ago I had been in the Spanish 
camp before Tetuan. 

“ Did our troops please you % ” they eagerly 
inquired. 

“Very much/’ I replied, “there is no finer 
infant'.yin the world than the Spanish infantry. ’ 

It was marvellous to see their change of 


106 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


manner, for when I went over the fort, I fancied 
they were a little reserved. One man ran to 
fetch his bota of wine, another produced his 
stock of paper cigars, and all seemed anxious to 
press some little kindness upon me. 

Lest I should he thought to have sacrificed 
truth to compliment, I repeat what I have often 
heard from abler judges than myself, that there 
is no finer infantry in the world than that of 
Spain. Superior to the French in strength and 
stature, they are well set up, and their soldierly 
appearance and readiness and correctness of 
evolution respond to what seems admirable drill. 
If they have not the dash of the French, they 
are steadier under a reverse, and by nature 
more patient of hardship. Give them a biscuit 
and a little tobacco, and there is hardly any 
amount of privation and fatigue they will not 
cheerfully endure. All they want is efficient 
arms and able leading, and the infantry which 
once was the terror of the world will yet be 
found to be the strength and glory of Spain, 


CHAPTER X. 


"Walk through Soiler.—Parish Church.—Sack of Soller.—Robbers, 

Priests, and Ladies. 

And now after all this dry discussion about 
Spanish customs and characteristics, if the 
reader has had patience to accompany me, it 
will be a relief to walk out, and see what there 
is of interest in the little town of Soller. 

We shall encounter no beggars on our way, 
to weary us with their importunities, or disgust, 
it may be, an over sensitive refinement, by thrust¬ 
ing their sores and mutilations into our faces. 
This nuisance of continental towns is not found 
in the Balearic Isles; for there is hardly a 
pohlacion in the province which has not one or 
two establishments for the relief of sicknc and 
destiruiion, maintained by annual contributions 
or charitable bequests. A pretty child, perhaps, 


108 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


will offer an orange to the passer-by ; and he 
must be a stern and uncompromising opponent 
of indiscriminate charity, who can harden his 
face against the offering, or refuse the expected 
return of a few quartos. 

The population are industrious. Those not 
engaged in field labour seem mostly occupied 
with cotton-weaving. They must work long 
hours; for early or late, as I have passed the 
houses, I heard the rattling of the looms, mixed 
frequently with the cheerfuler sound of singing. 
The women were sitting at the doors, occupied 
commonly with lace-making. Church-going 
does not seem to hinder work ; and they go well 
together, as the Spanish proverb has it, a Dios 
rogando, y con el tmazo dando* Though their 
hours of labour are long, their wages are small. 
But they are temperate in their habits, and 
their wants are few. Their genial climate is 
fuel and lodging and clothing to them ; and the 

* Praying to God; and striking, at the same time, with the 
hammer. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


109 


church, emphatically the poor man’s friend, 
gives them frequent fiestas which they know 
how to use, without abusing. 

A brook of clear water, of considerable size 
when I saw it, intersects the town, and is 
crossed by some high and picturesque bridges. 
A mill or two stand on its banks; and some 
charming studies for the sketcher may be 
found by following it up into its nooks and 
recesses. 

The parish church of Soller, consecrated in 
1492, has an historical interest more stirring 
than its architectural beauty. In 1562, at the 
instance of Juan Angelats, it was fortified, with 
a view to its affording refuge to the infirm and 
the defenceless, in the event of another invasion 
by the Turks. The chancel is handsome, having 
been decorated with marble and jasper of the 
island, at the expense of the junta of the town, 
and there is a retablo of some pretension in the 
chnpcl of St. Peter, which was put up as late 
as 1829. 


110 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


But the votive offerings are the most interest¬ 
ing part of its adornment ; for they bring back 
the times of piratical invasion and heroic 
resistance. 

They witness, in particular, to the eventful 
11th of May when, in the absence of its natural 
protectors, a strong detachment of Turks burst 
suddenly upon Seller with irresistible fury.. 
Spreading themselves through the streets, they 
began, “with unexampled assiduity,” to sack 
the houses, despoil and profane the churches, 
and “ captivate ” the v r omen, in the sense, that 
is, of making them slaves. 

But the reign of terror w 7 as of short duration. 
The Christian host, freed at last from all em¬ 
barrassment, by the defeat and total dispersion 
of the enemy, hurried to the rescue, and found 
that the report of their victory had preceded 
them, and that the Turks had evacuated the 
town. 

Some of the pirates escaped to the fleet; 
many were intercepted and slain; and the 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


Ill 


greatest part of the booty they had taken with 
them, was recovered. 

It is curious to observe in what a lawless and 
unsettled state the island was at that time. We 
read that certain banditti who had done incal¬ 
culable injury, in former times, to the inhabi¬ 
tants, now came in numbers to their assistance ; 
and with the help of the large blood-hounds* 
which always accompanied them, did good 
service by hunting down the fugitive Turks. 

They were of use, also, in another way, for 
which their manner of life especially qualified 
them. Besides killing a number of the enemy, 
they were instrumental in the recovery of a 
large amount of spoil which had been scattered 
by the way, or concealed about the persons of 
the marauders. This they brought into Sober; 
and, in verification of the proverb of “ honour 
among thieves,” scrupulously gave up th Q whole 
of it to the rightful owners. They were not left 

* “Aldnos a corruption probably, of Albanos ; for Albania was 
vhe-. u ,s it is now, famous for a fierce and powerful breed of dogs. v 


112 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


unrewarded; for Philip II., in the October of 
that same year, repaid them with a most ample 
“ indulgence/’ 

But there were two other classes of a very 
different sort, who distinguished themselves on 
this memorable occasion, and whose deeds must 
not be left unrecorded. 

Several priests, on witnessing the outrages of 
the savage invaders, stoutly resisted unto blood. 
One fell in the grave-yard of the parish church ; 
another was slain within the sanctuary. A 
third, the parish priest of Soller, seeing a party 
of Turks busily engaged in the work of sacrilege 
and profanation, threw himself fearlessly into 
the midst of them ; and snatching a holy casket 
of silver out of their hands, he rushed out of the 
church with it, and through the town; and 
never stopped till he reached the top of Puig, 
—singing, at he went, the canticle of triumph, 
Benedicite, omnia opera! 

The words w T ere appropriate ; for the sacred 
treasure, like the “Three Children,” had been 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


113 


snatched out of a fiery furnace of persecution 
from which there seemed no way of escape. 

But the priest who most distinguished him¬ 
self, was P. Fr. Guillermo Baro. 

When the convent of Observants was occupied 
by the Turks, he rushed to the house of his 
parents which, owing to his bold defence, was 
one of the few saved that day from plunder and 
violation. Arming himself with a cross-bow, and 
taking his place at the window of the attic, 
he shot with such strength and aim, that soon 
five Turks fell dead, pierced with his arrows. 
Having injured his weapon by the excessive 
energy with which he used it, he seized a 
halbert, and, hand to hand, at the door of the 
house, manfully maintained an unequal fight, 
till he slew so many of the enemy, that the 
historian is afraid to mention the amount, lest 
the score should seem fabulous. 

If ever man deserved reward, the valiant 
Observant did. I don’t know if a priest is 
.digible for a military distinction. But if 


114 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


Guillermo Baro had lived in our day, and 
done so bravely in so good a cause, he would 
have well deserved the highest that can be 

r. 

bestowed. Fighting for the sanctity of home 
against the misbeliever, there would have been 
a double propriety in decorating his breast with 
a Victoria Cross. 

As it was, the poor priest was suspended for 
shedding men’s blood. 

The old saying is true : “ One man may 
steal a horse, while another may not look over 
the hedge.” 

At the battle of Neville’s Cross, there w r ere 
present, on the English side, two archbishops 
and three bishops, wdio, if they did not fight, 
at least encouraged others to fight. But we 
do not read of their being suspended. Perhaps 
ecclesiastical irregularity depends on date and 
locality; or, perhaps, it is more meritorious to 
kill a Scot than a Turk; or, perhaps, *vhat is 
wrong and punishable in a presbyter, is right, 
or at least venial, in a bishop. I cannot tell. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


115 


But it is a fact, that our priest remained sus¬ 
pended from his sacred functions till the 14th 
day of December of the same year in which he 
killed the Turks, when he was restored by a 
Brief of Pope Pius IV., on the ground of its 
being his first offence. 

And this was all that William Baron ever 
got,—I mean in this world,—for fighting bravely 
for his country and jeopardising his life in 
behalf of his mother and sisters. 

And now —Place atu? Dames! 

The gentler sex had their share in the suffer¬ 
ings and achievements of the 11th of May, 
and have not been overlooked by the historian. 

Margarita Nadal is a name of melancholy 
interest and honourable remembrance in con- 
t nection with the sack of Soller. 

Two days after that event, the inhabitants 
of the town assembled in the parish church to 
assist at a solemn service in honour of God, 
and in behalf of those who had fallen by the 
hands of the enemy. Our friend from the tup 


116 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


of Puig was celebrant. The civil authorities 
were all present, and the relatives of the dead 
formed part of the congregation. And, con¬ 
spicuous among the rest, was a select band, 
with halberts, balistas, and arquebuses, repre¬ 
sentatives of those who had taken part in 
the engagement. Before them stood a table, 
covered with a Turkish banner and Turkish 
scimitars. These Juan Angelats, kneeling on 
the first step of the chancel, offered on the part 
of the troops, not as trophies of valour, but 
memorials of deliverance, to the God of vic¬ 
tories. 

And then an eloquent preacher, “in pure 
and beautiful Lemosin ,” made mention of those 
who had fallen in the cause of loyalty and 
truth; and every eye filled with tears as he 
touched on the fate of the young maiden 
Margarita Nadal, who, by the sacrifice of life, 
had preserved the integrity of her honour. 

Among the relatives of the slain there were 
two young persons who attracted much obser- 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


117 


ration, for they had borne a distinguished part 
in resisting the pirates. 

While Juan Casasnovas, of the house of 
Tamaiiy, was with the Christian army, his two 
daughters were shut up at home. Probably 
they ought not to hare been there ; for ladies 
of distinction had been generally placed in forts 
or defensible houses, at a distance from Roller, 
when the alarm of invasion first arose. But 
moved most likely by a generous concern for 
their town and its inhabitants, and by irre¬ 
sistible anxiety about their father’s welfare, 
they had returned unauthorised to the paternal 
abode ; and there, in fear and trembling, awaited 
the result of the impending battle. 

As they sat, thinking about their absent 
father, or musing sadly on their own lonely 
and unprotected condition, suddenly they heard 
the wild shouts of the Mahommedans, and the 
shrieks of those who were fleeing for safety or 
sinking under wounds and outrages. Ha roc 
and lamentation, and death and horror, liiieci 


118 


THREE WEEKS IN' MAJORCA. 


the streets, and were about them and near 
them. 

The windows of their house were well fas¬ 
tened, and the door secured by a heavy bar. 
But these, like their own age, and sex, and 
rank, and innocence, were but a poor protection 
against the barbarians outside. A Turk, mount¬ 
ing on a piece of timber, and assisted by a 
comrade, burst open the window, and precipi¬ 
tated himself into the room where they were. 
In an agony of desperation, the sisters seized 
the bar of the door; and, before the intruder 
could recover his feet, they dealt him a tre¬ 
mendous stunner on the head. Encouraged by 
their first success, the brave girls continued to 
lay on with such a will, that the misbeliever 
soon lay dead at their feet. 

They were safe from immediate violence. 
But the very presence of the Turk was con¬ 
taminating. With combined strength, there¬ 
fore, and unflinching determination, they lifted 
the body, and pitched it head-foremost through 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


119 


the open window. The other Turk, who was 
about to enter to assist his companion, was 
right in the way of the falling carcase. The 
two heads came into collision ; and partly from 
fright, and partly from the severe contusion he 
then received, the surviving Mussulman lost 
his senses, and never recovered them, till his 
dying day. 

Any one who has the good fortune to be in 

Soller, on the Sunday next after the lltli of 

May, the appointed anniversary of these events, 

will witness a procession of young men and 

maidens, old men and children, passing through 

the streets, in honour of our Lady of Victory. 

And in the midst of the procession he will see 

the governor of the fort carrying a bar adorned 

with flowers and ribands, which, after being 

borne in triumph round the town, is solemnly 

returned to its place in the parish church, 

where it stands a lasting memorial of the cun- 

rage and constancy of Francisca and Cat,Vine. 

♦ 

las valentas donas de Cas Tamany . 



CHAPTER XI. 

Walks about Soller.—El Barranco.—El Puig Mayor.—Military 

ardour. —Our Lady of Lluch. 

We will leave the parish church, having first 
cast another look at the offerings, and pursue 
our walk into the country. 

I have spoken of the orange groves, how they 
fill the whole valley. It was the early part of 
April when I was in Soller, the trees were 
bursting into flower, and I was told that before 
the end of the month the entire plain would be 
whitened with their blossom, and saturated 
with their fragrance. 

There are a few date trees in the valley, and 
on the hill sides, but not so many as I expected to 
find. Those I saw were of great age and ex f ra- 
ordinary size, and their feathery tops and :he 
large yellow bunches of fruit which hung from 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


121 


them were exceedingly beautiful. It is a pity 
that the palms are not more numerous, but they 
take much nursing, and are several years before 
they begin to bear ; and as dates can be imported 
cheaper and better from the East, the palm 
does not pay for cultivation, and w T here it grows 
is more for ornament than use. 

When the convents were suppressed, and the 
buildings sold or utilised, many of these trees 
were cut down as being unprofitable, or in the 
way of contemplated improvements, to the great 
prejudice of the picturesque and beautiful. A 
palm tree or two harmonise as well with a con¬ 
vent as a clump of old Scotch firs do with a 
lonely farmhouse, and the trees have a meaning 
as well as beauty in their respective positions. 
One kind speaks of the East, the cradle of 
Christianity ; while the other denotes a country 
to which we are indebted for much of our agri¬ 
cultural improvement. The sturdy truni and 
mass : boughs of the latter seem fora xl to 
resist th inclement blast. With the gi aceful 


122 


THEEE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


stem and uplifted foliage of the former we have 
been led to associate white robes and celestial 
triumph. 

And thus there are few palms at the present 
day in Majorca, and though Palma, or “ Las 
Palmas ” as it is sometimes called, retains the 
tree in its arms, it is no longer the “City of 
Palms.” 

There is a glen well worth visiting, the 
entrance to which is about half a league from 
Soller. The people of whom I asked its name 
called it El Barranco, but I should think it has 
a more special appellation. 

One afternoon I strolled into it by accident. 
The grandeur of the scenery drew me on, and 
a paved mule-track made progress easy. The 
path ascended through deep rifts in the rock, 
from which at times daylight was almost 
excluded. It was a sort of Via Mala on a 
small scale, too “ ferocious ” the people of Soller 
think for beauty, but the ferocity is its chief 
charm in the eyes of an Englishman. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


123 


On my way, I passed some rough-looking 
Carboneros, engaged in tlieir grimy occupation. 
I cannot tell why Carboneros have such a had 
name all the world oyer. Possibly it is because 
the out-of-the-way places where they w r ork offer 
a temptation to what is wrong; and it is oppor¬ 
tunity, the Spaniard says, which makes the thief. 
But certainly a bad name has been given them, 
and though they should belie a proverb and 
escape hanging, they are very likely people, so 
the world thinks, to do something to deserve it. 

I once heard a man, after heaping, as I con¬ 
ceived, every possible term of vituperation on 
the head of his vicious mule (and the Spanish 
vocabulary of abuse is tolerably copious), end 
by calling him a charcoal-burner. Up to this 
point the mule had listened with exemplary 
patience, but here he flung out furiously at his 
master. True, the injurious word was accom¬ 
panied with a cut from a heavy whip ; but if I 
interpreted that mule’s feelings aright, d was 
emotion, not sensation, that gave energy to Ins 


124- 


three WEEKS m MAJORCA. 


kick. It was not his hide, but the spirit within 
him that was intolerably pained. 

The scenery grew grander and wilder, and I 
continued to ascend till I was about half-an- 
hour’s walk, as it seemed to me, from the top of 
the pass and the table-land above. But the 
shades of evening were falling, the place was 
lonesome, and the stillness profound, broken 
only at intervals by the brawling of the brook 
far below. If there be brigands in Majorca, I 
thought to myself, here is a capital opportunity 
for the exercise of their vocation. That gloomy 
pine, or that projecting rock, is the very place 
to take a pot-shot. To strip a man, and throw 
his body down the gulf, would be the work of 
a minute, and who would be the wiser \ And, 
therefore, though anxious to reach the top of 
the pass, and see what lay beyond, I thought it 
best to return. 

In a short time I came up again with the 
carboneros, whom I passed with a friendly 
salutation ; and about two miles further brought 


THREE WEEKS JN MAJORCA. 


125 


me to the mouth of the glen. It was night 
when I reached Soller, and I w T as glad to sit 
down to a quiet and comfortable supper at the 
Fonda de la Paz. 

El Puig Major is the highest mountain in the 
Balearic Isles. It has an elevation above the 
sea of 4850 English feet, and cannot be much 
lower than 4800 feet above the vale of Soller. 
It is part of the range which encircles the 

9 

happy valley, and is a grand and conspicuous 
object from every part of it. I wished to have 
a nearer view of the mountain, and there was 
an additional inducement to the climb, in that 
the path to Lluch * goes past it—Lluch being 
famous for its convent, and a miraculous appa¬ 
rition of the Holy Virgin on the spot which it 
occupies. I took a guide for company, and to 
carry some refreshments, as the walk to the 
convent is long and fatiguing. 

The morning was fine, as indeed almost every 


* Pronounced Luke. 


126 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


morning was during the three weeks that I was 
in Majorca. After crossing the plain, a mule- 
track led us straight up among the hills ; and 
in the course of our ascent we gathered some 
ripe acorns from the evergreen oaks under which 
we passed. 

No one who has eaten the fruit fresh from 
the tree will think the present of the half 
bushel to the duchess, which Teresa Panza 
gathered “ one by one on the mountain,” absurd 
or improbable. The story is perfectly true to 
nature, like everything else in the wonderful 
production of Cervantes. It is the quantity 
contrasted with the quality of her to whom it 
was offered, that gives a touch of humour to 
the present. 

Further up, at a great elevation, we sat down 
by a delicious fountain, gushing from the living 
rock An artificial channel, neatly and carefully 
constructed, carries the water down to a pueblo 
in the valley. Precious in a summer drought 
must be that cool and never-failing suppV! 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


127 


And beautiful it is, in nature as in grace, to see 
harmonious co-operation between man and his 
Maker ; the one liberally bestowing, and the 
other gratefully receiving, and diligently utilising 
the gift. 

We walked on till we surmounted the crest 
of the range up which, with little intermission, 
we had been for two hours toiling. Judging by 
the length and steepness of the way, the height 
we had attained must have been considerably 
more than 3000 feet above the sea. But the 
rocky mass of Puig, round which we had been 
lately winding, still rose high above our heads. 
On the table-land, in every nook which offered 
earth and shelter, were patches of wheat; a 
little backward, but healthy and vigorous, tes¬ 
tifying to the mildness of the climate and the 
industry of the people of Soller. Here and 
there a few stunted pines struggled for a pre¬ 
carious existence among the rocks. 

My companion and I here stopped to hold a 
council of war as to what we should do next. 


128 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


We could go on to Llucli; or w r e might ascend 
Puig, which could be done from the other side ; 
or there was a third course open, we could 
rest content with what we had already 
achieved. 

But Lluch was still three hours distant; and 

r , 

though at a great elevation, yet, from lying in 
a hollow, it offers no view. It has nothing to 
recommend it but the religio loci. Besides, the 
convent, or seminary, as I believe it is now, is 
most conveniently visited from Inca, from which 
it is no further distant than from the point 
w r here we stood ; and as I purposed to take an 
early opportunity of coming back to Majorca, it 
was well to leave something in reserve, and I 
could do Puig at the same time. So our council 
of war ended after the usual manner, in a deter¬ 
mination not to fight. 

This conclusion being unanimously come to, 

> sat down within the shadow of a huge rock 

H iLh our wine, and smoke some more ciga- 
'dhos. Old Puig, from his pride of place, loc ed 


THREE WEEKS IH MAJORCA. 


129 


calmly clown upon us; and the Mediterranean 
lay like a sleeping lion at our feet. 

I have no great love for smoking, never 
having been much addicted to it, and for many 
years having left it off altogether. But if a 
man wishes to converse and make friends with 
the Spaniards, he must smoke. The practice 
breaks down form, and opens an easy way to 
social and friendly intercourse. As a Spaniard 
never eats in your presence without first asking 
you to join him, so he never smokes without 
offering you a puro or cigarillo,* as the case 
may be. He looks for the same civility on your 
part, and is hurt if you do not tender it. If a 
poor man, a cigar will go further than money in 
conciliating his good will. He knows well the 
distinction between friendship and patronage, 
which he calls protection. It is the difference 
between equality and inferiority. A cigar 


■ a hardly say that a puro is simply tobacco, wha we eail a 
cigt r. A cigarillo is a small quantity of tobacco tightly v r .pped iu 
a f’ibo of paper, what we commonly call a cigarette. 


K 


130 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


civilly tendered implies the former; money, 
though cheerfully given, conveys the notion of 
the latter. If I had been attacked by brigands 
in Majorca, I should certainly have offered them 
a cigar all round before they began to rifle me. 

My companion, I found, had once been a 
soldier, and seen service, and was now reposing 
on his laurels; that is, he was a cotton-weaver, 
at two pesetas a day. Many years before, he 
had fought in the cause of Queen Isabel and 
constitutional liberty; and he had a great 
dislike to his old enemies the French, whom 
he stigmatized as gabachos. We were chatting 
away, when he suddenly jumped up in a state 
of excitement, either from the wine and tobacco 
or his own warlike reminiscences ; and after 
making sundry grimaces and contortions to 
give me to understand he had a gabacho in 
his mind’s eye, he assumed a martial attitude, 
and bringing his stick down to the charge 
he made a push at his imaginary opponent. 
Having given the unhappy gabacho, as it seemed, 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


131 


the coup de grace , he turned to me with an air 
of triumph, and said, “ We Mallorquines are 
not like the Valencians; we never use the 
knife. But, like the English, we are terrible 
with the bayonet/’ 

As soon as he had composed himself he 
began to talk about Majorca, expatiating on 
the beauty of the island generally, and parti¬ 
cularly on that of Yalldemosa, which I might 
see on my return to Palma, by taking a different 
route from that by which I had come to Soller. 
I had heard of the place before; so I told the 
retired soldier, that if he would be at the door 
of the Fonda de la Paz next morning at eight 
o’clock, with two valiant mules, he should 
accompany me as guide to Palma, by way of 
Yalldemosa. 

This being settled, we turned our faces home¬ 
ward, and began to descend the mountain. 
And as I cannot from my own observation 
lurn;bi any account of Lluch, I must cement 
myself with giving a verse from a hymn ad 


132 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


dressed to Nostra Senora de Llucli , which I 
picked up in Soller. It is wTitten in the Mal- 
lorquin dialect, and therefore will serve as a 
specimen of the language as well as devo¬ 
tion of the people. Both, I fear, are wide 
deviations from purity of style :— 


Confiand ab vos, Senora, 

Los catius ban llibertat; 

Los mariners, de cada liora, 

Escapan de tempestat; 

Posads en pfis perillos 
Vostra Hum los assegura. 

Daunos de Lluc Verja pura, 

Que en el cel gosem de vos ! 

Lady of Llucli, we own thy clement reign ; 

’Tis thou, when captives, with confiding cry, 

Seek grace and help, that break’st their galling chain. 
When tempest sweeps o’er sea and starless sky, 

Thy light the seaman guides with ray serene, 

Guides and assures along the raging main. 

That we in bliss may see thy face, ordain, 

Lady of Llucli, of heaven the spotless Queen ! 


CHAPTER XII. 


Yalldemosa.—Caves of Arta.—Extraordinary Phenomenon.—Mail 

Coach, and its Driver. 

The road to Palma by way of Yalldemosa 
passes up among the hills by a steep and broken 
track. There are some grand views of Soller 
and its mountain amphitheatre as the traveller 
looks back in the ascent, and I am inclined to 
think that the best way of approaching Soller is 
in this direction. The path soon took the line 
of the cliffs, and for a considerable distance 
looked down on the Mediterranean. To the 
left of us were hills of great elevation, and far 
below lay the blue sea, bluer than the sky which 
it reflected. In certain places it was curiously 
streaked with lines of light, and a few fl shmg 
to. ;-s with sun-lit sails gave animation to its 

rfac , After crossing a picturesque ravine or 


134 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


two the mule-track fell into a good carriage- 
road, which made travelling easier ; some stakes 
we had observed in our way showed that the 
Government intends to continue this carriage- 
road all the way to Soller. 

Valldemosa is an inconsiderable town, of no 
beauty and small population. It has its infant 
school, however, and the little folk were singing 
cheerily and lustily as I rode past the room in 
which it is held. The scenery around Vallde- 
mosa is pretty, and the hills which girdle it in 
are very fine ; but on the whole, Valldemosa is 
not to be compared with Soller. The chapel of 
the Carthusian convent is worth visiting, as it 
contains a good carving of the holy Virgin and 
two or three paintings of merit; this I learned 
afterwards and was sorry I missed seeing them. 
I don t know the distance from Soller to Palma 
by this route, but it is an easy day's ride, 
and not too much for an active pedestrian; 
no one who travels it will regret having 
done so. 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


135 


My next excursion from Palma was to the 
caves of Arta. 

As a rule, caves are humbugs, rank impostors, 
always excepting the glorious cave of Staffa. 
I had long come to this conclusion, and had 
registered a vow never to enter another; this 
was after emerging from the famous spar cave 
in the Isle of Skye, weary, wet, and disgusted. 

But such vows are not of very rigid obli¬ 
gation ; so hearing everybody speak in raptures 
of the caves of Arta, I thought, being on my 
travels, I might as well visit them. I should see 
a new country on my way, and extend my 
acquaintance with the people, and therefore, if 
the caves turned out to be nought, as I expected, 
still my labour would not be altogether lost. 

The little town of Arta is about forty-five 
miles from Palma, nearly the extreme length of 
the island. The road, which in the main is 
good and well-kept, passes through Manacor, 
nex; '0 Palma the largest town in Majorca, 
having a population of 12,590. I don’t J now 


136 


THREE WEEKS IH MAJORCA. 


that there is much to be seen here beyond a 
very obliging postmaster; the man of letters 
has felt the progressive spirit of his nation, and 
by way of learning French, has committed to 
memory nearly the entire of a well-thumbed 
phrase-book. He fired away at me in French, 
and I responded to the best of my ability. I 
am not sure that his dialect and pronunciation 
were after the fashion of the purest Parisian, and 
I dare say he had some doubts about mine ; for 
he gravely remarked, that as he was a Spaniard 
and I was an Englishman our French could not 
possibly be the same. 

I reached Arta at a late hour, and found 
hospitable reception and poor entertainment in 
its little posada. The house is not distinguished 
by any particular title ; I asked its name of the 
landlord, and he said it was commonly called 
La Fonda Grande. I kept my countenance and 
made no reply ; the title was indifferent to me, 
provided it did not show itself in the bill. 

Early in the morning I engaged a guide and 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


137 


proceeded to the caves. We took a path across 
the fields to reach them; the morning was 
bright as usual, and the air fresh and balmy; 
dew-drops were hanging on the petals of the 
wild flowers, and high up towards heaven the 
larks w r ere carolling their matin song. The 
distance w r e had to go was about nine miles, 
which we accomplished in two hours. I was not 
sorry that the guide was weighted with a lamp 
and can of oil, for he was a regular stepper. 

The chain of high hills in which the caves are 
situated is clothed with a quantity of pines, 
mixed with abundance of arbutus and wild 
flowers. The mouth of the caves overlooks the 
sea, and the approach to it is by a steep wind¬ 
ing path cut out of a precipitous mass of moun¬ 
tain limestone. 

The people talk of las caevas , and therefore I 
use the plural number. Formerly, there were 
two, and the descent to one was through a hole 
on uhe surface of the hill, and the traveller w vs 
let down by a cord and basket. The two are 

i 

/ / 


138 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


now artificially united, and though spoken of in 
the plural number, there is really but one cave. 

The last part of the ascent is by a flight of 
steps, at the top of which is the majestic arch, 
measuring 140 feet from crown to base, which 
gives entrance to the cavern. 

The guide having prepared his lamp of three 
branches, which gave a very good but yet 
insufficient light, we entered, and I passed on 
after him, from chamber to chamber, many of 
which were at different levels, but all connected 
by stone steps or wooden staircases. 

It is impossible to give a just idea of the 
marvellous beauty of these lofty chambers. The 
calcareous deposits are of gigantic magnitude 
and ever-varying shape. Sometimes they have 
the most grotesque appearance; but usually 
they present familiar forms. Near the entrance 
I saw what looked like trunks of large oak 
trees, apparently decayed with age, and I struck 
them with my stick, to be assured they were 
not wood. More commonly the stalactites 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


139 


assume the form of date trees, slender towards 
the middle, as the date palm often is, with rough 
bark, and tall stems. At times, they clung to 
roof and sides, like leaves and flowers delicately 
chiselled out of alabaster. At other times, 
reaching from floor to roof, they showed like 
the massive pillars of a Norman church, or the 
clustered shafts of a later and more graceful 
architecture. Heavy pendants or bosses from 
the roof assisted the illusion of a Gothic 
cathedral. 

There are many chambers, which have each 
their distinctive character and name. In “ the 
Hall of the Virgin,” there is a tall majestic 
figure standing on a high pedestal, and when 
seen under a peculiar light, holding what seems 
to be a child in her arms. There is “the 
Baptistry,” with its capacious font; and “ the 
Hall of the Pulpit,” which only wants the figure 
of a priest to give it reality. There is “ the Ha 11 
of the Organ,” with its many parallel and com 
tig-nous , pes, which, when struck with a hammer. 


140 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


give out musical notes of almost metallic sweet¬ 
ness and variety. There is “the Hall of the 
Banners,” each pendant from its own staff; “ the 
Hall of the Curtain,” massive with solid folds; 
and “ the Hall of the Theatre,” with its rows of 
boxes, where the people of the neighbourhood 
sometimes assemble for a ball or a pic-nic. But 
the variety is endless. I had heard much of the 
wondrous extent and beauty of these halls, but 
the half had not been told me. 

There are certain documents in the archives 
of the Escorial relating to the natural curiosities 
of the Balearic Isles ; and among these curi¬ 
osities, as the principal, the grotto of Arta is 
mentioned. In the reign of Philip III. an 
Italian of science was sent to explore it, and his 
report very justly represents it as worthy to be 
classed among the most wonderful sights the 
world can exhibit. A name, supposed to be his, 
is inscribed on the side of one. of the halls : 
“Mateo Crespi Roman entro aqui el ano 1614.” 

On the floor, are a great number of incipient 



THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


141 


stalagmites, slow concretions of the calcareous 
droppings from which the water has not 
evaporated in the descent, and to which the 
iron held in chemical solution gives a bright 
orange colour. They are almost level with the 
floor, and the little circles which they form are 
commonly called “ fried eggs,” and they have 
that appearance. Or perhaps they more re¬ 
semble large oranges cut in halves, with the 
flat sides up. I thought, at first sight, they 
were halves of oranges, left on the floor after a 
recent pic-nic. 

My guide, with a mysterious air, informed me 
that a Sdbio, or man of science, had once told 
him the world must be much older than people 
generally imagined, judging from the time 
which must have elapsed in the slow formation 
of these enormous masses of calcareous con¬ 
cretions. For thousands of years in these dark 
recesses Nature has been slowly elaborating a 
i;vu; : loUfle of vast and beautiful forms, unseen 
by mortal eye, but working incessantly for the 


142 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


glory of Him whose handmaid she is,—as the 
architects of old time often employed their 
highest powers of creative art in the ornamen¬ 
tation of places withdrawn from man's obser¬ 
vation. 

In one of the halls there is a small pool of 
water, pure and refreshing, though it appears 
black as ink before it is lifted. A little wine 
would mix well with it, and the visitor should 
not omit to bring some, with other provend—a 
precaution I neglected. He will find himself 
ready for some solid refreshment by the time he 
has finished exploring the caves. 

On emerging into daylight it was pleasant to 
look again upon the sparkling wavelets of the 
“ laughing sea/' spanned, as it were, by the 
wide and lofty portal we were approaching. 
Some delicate ferns have established themselves 
near the mouth of the cavern, and fresh and 
joyous they looked in the golden sunshine. 

The guide who accompanied me knew Cas¬ 
tilian very well and expressed himself slowly 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


143 


and articulately, so that there was no difficulty 
in comprehending him. I can recommend him 
as intelligent and obliging; and under the name 
of Juan Grau, he may be heard of at the Fonda 
Grande. A considerable part of his fee goes to 
the proprietor of the caves ; a thing to be borne 
in mind in paying him. 

I had not been long at the inn, after my 
return, and was waiting for dinner, when an old 
gentleman entered my room, and after offering 
his salutation, asked me to go to his house, 
where he would show me “ a phenomenon ” 
unparalleled in Europe. I thanked him for his 
affability and benevolence, and hoped he would 
allow me to wait for another opportunity, as I 
had just returned from a walk of nearly twenty 
miles and felt it necessary to untire myself. 
He said he would fetch the phenomenon to 
me. 

He had not been long gone before he ap- 
ipeared gain, carrying something wrapped up 
i a cotton handkerchief, on removing which 


144 


THREE WEEKS W MAJORCA. 


there appeared a small wooden object, care¬ 
fully protected by a glass shade. This, the old 
gentleman informed me, was something he had 
carved with great labour, and he must add, 
with some little skill, so admirably contrived as 
to serve either for a candlestick or a drinking- 
cup, as occasion might require. He paused to 
give time to my admiration, and then pro¬ 
ceeded to enlarge on the beauty and utility of 
the object; and concluded by asking me if I 
had ever seen anything so wonderful. This 
was putting a heavy strain on one’s sincerity, 
so I answered evasively, that I had travelled 
much and seen many beautiful things. 

“ But,” he inquired, with some warmth, “ have 
you ever in your travels seen a phenomenon 
like that % ” 

I answered frankly I never had. This restored 
my friend’s equanimity; and after replacing 
the glass shade and wrapping up the pheno¬ 
menon again in the cotton pocket-handkerchief, 
he began to talk about himself and his adven- 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


145 


tures, just as people do in “ Gil Bias” and 
“Don Quixote.” 

He had been a soldier, lie told me; and 
after retiring from service, he had sought occu¬ 
pation and amusement by turning his sword 
into a carving knife. But though now suc¬ 
cessfully cultivating the arts of peace, he had 
formerly taken a leading part in the war of 
independence against the French ; and when 
Zaragoza was surrendered, he was included in 
the capitulation. He spoke of the valiant 
resistance of the Spaniards, which w r as true 
enough; and no doubt, but for famine and 
pestilence, they would have held out longer. 
But whether, in the hardships they suffered in 
the course of the siege, the soldiers were obliged 
to feed on the flesh of mules which had died of 
starvation—and whether rats were really sold 
in open market at two duros a piece *—this 
was a different affair, into the veracity of 


* A duro is about 4s. 2 d. 


146 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. v 


which it was not my business to inquire, and 
I left it between the old gentleman and his 
conscience. 

I have no doubt he had been a gallant 
officer; and because a Spaniard boasts, we 
must not conclude he is either a Sir John 
Falstaff or a Monsieur Parolles. His boasting 
may not always exactly harmonise with the 
severity of truth; but it is quite consistent 
with honourable feeling and unquestionable 
courage. In fact, a Spaniard is a bundle of 
puzzling incongruities, as the great Duke him¬ 
self acknowledged, more than once, in his 
despatches. Nil fait unquam sic imp a?' sibi. 
He is brave, but boastful; impressible, but un¬ 
changing ; earnest, yet dilatory; proud and 
reserved, yet • social and affectionate. Indivi¬ 
dually, he is upright and honest, jealous of his 
honour, punctilious in keeping his word ; but 
viewed collectively as a people, there too often 
appears an indifference to pledges, and a wil¬ 
lingness to evade the plainest obligati ms. Celt 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


147 


and Moor, subjugation and conquest, religion 
and government, traditions of the past and 
present condition—each has set its stamp on 
the popular mind, and no wonder if the 
general impression looks confused and unin¬ 
telligible. 

I had dined, and w r as waiting for the public 
conveyance which was to take me to Manacor, 
and which was to start at three en punto. On 
this account I had hurried back from the caves, 
where I would gladly have stayed a couple of 
hours longer. The diligencia , as they miscalled 
it, conveys the mail from Arta to Manacor and 
Palma, and therefore punctuality might reason¬ 
ably be expected. But the hour was long 
passed, and no diligence appeared. It v r as 
the old story, Socorros de Espana , 6 tarde, 6 
nunca * At last I went to inquire into the 
cause of the delay. The driver said, as it was 
raining a little he would wait to see if the 


'* Spanish help J either late or never. 


L 2 





148 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


weather improved, and he would start despues , 
that is, afterwards, or by-and-by. 

Of wonderful virtue is the little word despues 
—the most dearly cherished, and the most 
commonly used, in the Spaniard’s vocabulary. 
He has borrowed it—not the word, but the 
idea—from the East, where, under the guise 

4 

of peace and resignation, it forms the character 
and name of the Mussulman. It is the interval 
which keeps events from overcrowding; the 
drag which retards inconvenient motion; the 
oil which stills the agitation of worldly turmoil; 
the alkali which neutralises all acidity of mental 
disquietude. It is proverbially the thief of 
time, but it gives tranquillity and contentment 
instead : and as time is of no value, the balance 
is clearly in the Spaniard’s favour. Where a 
Frenchman wrnuld tear his hair, and an English¬ 
man take off his coat, the Spaniard merely says 
despues , and keeps on smoking. He does not 
take up arms against a sea of troubles; but 
despues is the mare pacificum , or the mare mov - 



THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


149 


tuum, in which he bravely submerges every 
trouble as it rises, out of sight and out of 
mind. 

My inquiry, however, expedited the move¬ 
ments of the coachman of Arta; he soon drove 
up to the Grand Hotel, and I took my place. 

Her Majesty’s mail was a heavy wooden 
frame, with a bottom of twisted rope. It had 
a tilt overhead, and the rudest possible springs ; 
in short, the old conveyance of the country, 
unchanged since the time of the Moors. Where 
there was any roughness in the road, I was 
obliged to hold on with both hands, for fear of 
being pitched through the tilt. Tossing in a 
blanket can be nothing to it ; and I was 
thankful I was the only passenger. 

A style of travelling like this is not agree¬ 
able ; and yet it is favourable, I suspect, to 
that part of the human frame where health 
is forged.* And I am of opinion that our 

* L<i salad de todo cl cuerpo sc fragua en la oficina d l cMi-at-go. 
j) r Quixote, P. II. cap. 43. 



150 


THREE WEEKS IK MAJORCA. 


medical men at home might add a Balearic 
car to their pharmacopoeia, and prescribe it with 
advantage to dyspeptic patients, in districts 
more especially where the roads are bad. The 
physic needs no label of instruction. It tells 
its own tale : “ when taken to be well shaken.” 
In Majorca, the treatment, considering its effi¬ 
cacy, is by no means costly; the fare for the 
whole way between Arta and Palma being only 
four pesetas. 

The driver and I were soon deeply engaged 
with smoking and conversation ; and I found 
him, like his countrymen generally, intelligent 
and communicative. He talked about the reli¬ 
gion and habits of the Mallorquines in a way 
which confirmed my existing impressions. He 
said they were all anxious for the education 
of their children; that they were all of one 
mind in religion; and that the clergy were 
held in great respect among them —muy ayre - 

i 

.dados, to use his own words. 

One expression he employed which I had 


THREE WEEKS IN’ MAJORCA. 


151 


heard before in the cathedral of Seville, and 
which struck me at the time very much. He 
was speaking of the Holy Communion, in answer 
to my inquiries how often the people partook 
of it, and in what light they regarded it. And 
in the course of his remarks, the phrase Dios 
sacrcimentado w T as used by him. The words 
are significant and comprehensive, and what 
no sound English churchman, I think, would 
object to. And if Rome, and Luther as well, 
had been satisfied with this simple enunciation 
of an inexplicable mystery, and not wandered 
into “ endless mazes of intricate disputation ” as 
to how it is brought about, the world would not 
have been “so distressed with manifold con¬ 
tentions/' in consequence of their standing, 
needlessly and unprofitably, “ the one upon 
transubstantiation, and upon consubstantiation 
the other." * 

On arriving at Manacor I gave the driver a 


* See Hooker, Ecc. Pol., B. v. c. 67. 


152 THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 

little gratuity, which he took care to tell me 
was unusual and unnecessary; and then, with 
a feeling which I perfectly understood, he in¬ 
sisted upon carrying my things to the inn. As 
he was going away he shook me heartily by the 
hand. “Dios guarde d V; God have you in 
his keeping! ” said the honest-hearted fellow; 
“ if I don’t see you again in this world, I hope 


we shall meet in heaven.” 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Palma.—Holy Week. 

I AY as in Palma during part of the Holy 
Week, and witnessed some of the ceremonies by 
which it is distinguished in Roman Catholic 
countries. These ceremonies were not invested 
with the imposing splendour which marks their 
yearly recurrence in Rome and Seville; but 
they were new to me, and they had something 
also of local peculiarity, which makes the 
mention of them appropriate here. 

Palm Sunday is a great day in Palma. The 
churches were crowded ; so was the Rambla, or 
public promenade, in the evening. A good 
military band enlivened the throng, and every- 
body seemed gay and happy. Of late the 
clergy have been inveighing against the <. m - 
vega nee of crinoline, which they consider im- 


/ 


154 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


suitable, and which is found to be inconvenient, 
in the churches. But if the ladies are curtailed 
of their fashionable proportions in the churches, 
they take care to indemnify themselves on the 
promenade. The jurisdiction of the clergy does 
not extend so far. It is the territory of pomps 
and vanities, a sort of 'peculiar of the world, 
and religion has nothing to do with it. But 
dress as they will, crinolined or uncrinolined, 
in expansion or collapse, las bellas Palmesanas , 
with their leave be it spoken, are inferior in 
grace and beauty to their fair compatriotes of 

Barcelona and Valencia. 

* 

On Wednesday evening the office of the 
Tenebrce was sung in the cathedral ; and as 
the plaintive chant proceeded, light after light 
was put out before the altar, to represent the 
progress of the Passion; till, at the Miserere , a 
total extinction denoted the darkness which 
covered the whole land until the ninth hour. 
When “ the ninth hour ” was come, organ and 
chant at once ceased, and then commenced a 


THREE WEEKS 11ST MAJORCA. 


155 


clapping of hands on the part of the congre¬ 
gation, which resounded through the cathedral. 
I turned to a lady who was kneeling beside 
me, and asked the reason of the extraordinary 
commotion. “Dios muere” she said—“Christ 
is dying.” And this clapping of hands denoted 
the earthquake which tore the rocks, and rent 
in twain the veil of the Temple from top to 
bottom. The clapping ceased, and the congre¬ 
gation departed, each to his own home. 

It was finished : and if the ceremonies which 
the people had witnessed, and participated in, 
brought the crowning act of the Redemption 
vividly to remembrance, and imprinted it more 
deeply on the mind, they had simply done the 
work of an impressive sermon. I would not 
clap my hands to testify my belief in an earth¬ 
quake, but I must say I see no harm in it. 

On the morning of Thursday there was an¬ 
other grand funcion in the cathedral; 
benediction of the oils,” by the bishop, 
an important occasion, for the oil thus blessed. 




156 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


was to serve the whole diocese for the following 
year ; that oil which, with Roman Catholics, 
marks the commencement of the Christian life 
on earth, and seals it for consummation in 
heaven. 

And -the solemnities were worthy of the 
occasion. The church was crowded : all the 
authorities of the city, in full costume, military 
as well as civil, assisted. The high altar blazed 
with lights. In front of it w r ere two immense 
candelabra, each with its seven mystical tapers, 
and each of solid silver, the glory of the cathe¬ 
dral’s treasury, and the pride of Majorca. A 

4 . 

crowd of ecclesiastics, in various and gorgeous 
vestments, surrounded the bishop, who went 
through his part of the ceremony as if he felt 
the importance of what he w r as doing, and knew 
that all things, especially those connected with 
religious worship, ought to be done decently and 
in order. 

In the afternoon there was to be a great 
religious nrocession, and I walked towards the 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


157 


church of La Sangre , from which it was to 
start. On my way, I inquired of a brisk little 
gentleman whom I met, and who looked as if 
he wished to be spoken to, the exact locality of 
the church. Instead of resolving my difficulty, 
he began to question me about my nation and 
religion. I thought of David Hume, when he 
was floundering in the Nor-loch, or the Guse- 
dub, or some other slough of despond, for it is 
long since I read the story ; and of the old 

t 

Scotchwoman who refused to assist in his ex¬ 
trication until she had put the sceptical philo¬ 
sopher through his facings, out of the manual of 
the Shorter Catechism. 

“Franco V 9 asked the old gentleman. 

“Ingles/' I replied. 

“ Do you believe in the Holy Roman Apostolic 
Church ? ” he rejoined. 

“ I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic 
Church," I answered, out of the 
Creed. 

‘ Th* n you are a Christian V 9 he remarked. 


158 


THREE WEEKS IN’ MAJORCA. 


“ I trust so,” was my answer. “ And now,” 
I said, “ show me my w r ay.” 

He turned about, and trotted along by my 
side, to comply with my wish. I believe he 
would have done as much if I had said I was a 

i 

Jew, but probably not with the same readiness 
of purpose and alacrity of manner. 

When I reached the church, I found I was 
too early for the procession. A few Homan 

soldiers, and a centurion or two, with spear 

* 

and helm and corslet, kept slowly dropping in ; 
and I had time cJ look about me at the church, 
and its ordinary congregation. A large figure 
of the Saviour, bearing a crown of thorns, and a 
reed in the right hand, was near me, placed 
there for the week. An alms-dish was on the 
altar before it. Each person who entered 
kissed the feet of the image ; some with an 
earnestness of feeling amounting to tears. 

The image may have been nothing more than 
a sign of remembrance; and the adoration 
looked like the homage of faith offered to Him 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


159 


whom it represented in liis lowest stage of 
humiliation. 

It may have been a superstitious service; 
and so to be condemned. 

I cannot tell, and will not judge. But if an 
evil thing, it was not without good : for every 
one, the very poorest, cast his offering into the 
dish. 

The procession for which I had come seamed 
as far off as ever, though the time fb d 
its leaving the church was long past, 
wished to be in Valencia on Easter day I baa 
taken my place by the steamer which va> 
leave Palma on the Thursday evening ; and e f 
course, there were certain arrangements to be 
made before starting. I could wait no longo* 
Socovros de EspaHa! I said to myself, as I loft 
the c urc^i, and resumed my way to the inti. 

But though I missed the Palma pro< ssi n, 
X witnessed a similar one, on a much larger 
sc: c, the following evening at Valencia; and : 
l may be allowed to infringe the unities, and 


160 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


overleap time and space, a few words about that 
may be taken as descriptive of what passed at 
Palma, and so not be inappropriate here. 

After the day had closed, on large platforms 
borne shoulder height, and following each other 
at regular intervals and in slow succession, 
there were exhibited through the principal 
streets the different stages of our Lord's passion, 
from his betrayal to his crucifixion, by means of 
figures of wax as large as life, with startling 
and painful effect. The descent from the cross, 
and the entombment, followed ; and the whole 
was closed by a large cross, which a man near 
me took care to explain was the cross of 
Calvary, evidently understanding the words 
himself in their literal sense. A multitude of 
persons in the costumes of Jewish priests and 
Poman soldiers mingled in the procession, and 
separated the platforms; and more than one 
band of military music regulated the step, and, 
with subdued expression, added to the thrilling 
interest of the spectacle. All Valencia in its 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


161 


tens of thousands, was out; the ladies in the 
balconies, and the men bare-headed in the 
streets, and the light of countless torches and 
tapers, as it flashed on the faces of the people, 
or brought fitfully into relief the salient points 
of the buildings, had a strange and unearthly 
effect. 

It was a sight, I confess, which I could not 
behold without a certain shrinking of mind. 
Platform after platform passed by; and still 
there was the Man of sorrows under some fresh 
form of indignity and suffering. It seemed 
almost profane to bring the most awful incidents 
in this 'world’s history before the common gaze 
iVue. everything before me was a representation 
gf what had once really occurred, while thou¬ 
sands of hardened unbelievers stood “staring 
and looking on.” It was but setting forth 
more vividly what pictures, and sermons, and 
even Holy Writ itself, read publicly in our 
chur dies, continually bring before us. 
suppose it was this very vividness, this hfe-like 


M 


162 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


appearance, which made the painful impression. 
I was standing in “ the dolorous way,” not in a 
street of Valencia. Those pale and emaciated 
forms which came successively into view were 
not of wax. They were breathing, suffering, 
sinking realities. 

It may he only a matter of feeling, but I 
certainly think there are facts so steeped in 
mystery and awe, that it is best and safest to 
dwell upon them mentally and in secret, where 
the Christian can commune with his own heart, 
and be still. There is danger in a contrary 
course. We know the common result of 
familia: lty and a too near approach. In 
ordinary things, contempt : in things sacred,— 
blunted feelings, indifference, scepticism. 

I verily believe that, on a people like our¬ 
selves, religious spectacles of the kind I have 
described would have a pernicious effect. It is 
not so, apparently, with the Spaniards. And 
if anything could have reconciled an English 
churchman to the procession, it was the perfect 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


163 


order, the profound reverence, the entire un¬ 
doubting faith with which the lookers on, without 
an exception, seemed to regard it. Things so 
sacred could not be made a show of openly, if 
unbelievers and mockers formed part of the 
spectators. The profanity would be too 
dreadful and revolting. 

But there were neither unbelievers nor 
mockers to be seen. Hundreds there were in 
their many-coloured mantas, in whose swauhy 
cheeks and glowing eyes might be read a 
religious enthusiasm it would be dangerous to 
provoke ; and he must be a bold man, 7 thought 
to myself, who would interfere with th?/. pro¬ 
cession, or cast scorn on its solemnities ; 1 
were well for such a one if he had made s 
peace with Heaven, for his earthly e • ' •" ; 
would not be worth five minutes’ purchase. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The Balearic Isles.—Seller again.—Conclusion. 


I have nearly brought my little book to a 
conclusion. But, before writing Finis, it may 
be well to say a word or two about the other 
islands which, with Majorca, constitute the 
Spanish province of Las Islas Baleares. 

When I left Barcelona, it was my intention 
to visit them all But, on inquiry, I saw reason 
to change my mind. Minorca, or Menorca , as 
fie Spaniards call it, is of considerable size ; but, 
except its magnificent harbour of Mahon and 
its English traditions, there is little to invite a 
voyage of a hundred miles, which is about the 
distance of Mahon from Palma. It is not, like 
Majorca, enclosed on all sides by lofty hills. 
Violent winds at times sweep over it, and 
prevent the cultivation of the orange and olive 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


165 


and date trees, which require a genial climate 
and sheltered locality. There are some moun¬ 
tains towards the centre of the island ; but the 
general character of the country is flat and 
uninteresting. 

Ibiza is hilly, but bleak; and has, I believe, 
nothing to interest, except its srlinas , or salt- 
beds, which are extensive and productive. 

Besides these, there are some is'ots, but they 
are mere masses of rock, or, at ix =:■, offer 
scanty pasture to a few sheep am’ g< s. 
whole population of the group is a Id tie short 
of 270,000 souls, of which, as we Have seen, 
ore than three-fourths inhabit Major: 
who has seen this last island, ;• -eon 
Balearic isles ; and he who has seen Seller a 
rta, has skimmed the cream of Majorca, 
islands are all of easy a< Be 
the steamer which goes direct to Palma, another 
it Barcelona weekly, which, touch- 

iij Alcudia in Majorca, g s on to J 
Another boat which leaves Valencia touches at 


166 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


Palma, and from Palma goes direct to Minorca, 
going and returning weekly. The voyage from 
Palma to Valencia occupies about fourteen hours; 
and from Valencia there is a railway to Madrid. 

To reach Majorca, the traveller from England 
must proceed first to Barcelona. A lover of 
the sea will do this most conveniently by 
running down to Marseilles, and taking a 
steamer there ; or he can leave the Marseilles 
line, and proceed westward by rail to Per¬ 
pignan ; in which case he will see Nismes, and 
its interesting remains of Roman architecture. 
A diligence which passes from Perpignan 
through some fine country of the Pyrenees 
wiV set him down at Gerona, from which place 
there is now a rail the whole way to Barcelona. 
The interval of coach travelling between Gerona 
and Perpignan is, at the present time, about 
sixty miles, and will soon be diminished. Or, 
thirdly, there is a route by way of Bayonne, 
Pamplona, and Zaragoza, which also gives to 

view some fine Pyrenean scenery, and has about 

V 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


167 


the same interval, or perhaps a little less, of 
coach travelling—the distance, namely, from 
Bayonne to Pamplona. The distance from 
Paris to Barcelona, by either route, is, I believe, 
nearly the same. 

And now to take a last look at Soller before 

* 

closing my book. 

I don’t know that I ever saw a country that- 
pleased me more than that about roller, 
have spoken of its delightful clin ;o. ; hs 
grand and beautiful scenery. The former must 
be well suited to affections of the throat and. 
chest; and the latter offers every indecent 
to exorvh and much to pleas< the eve; vm 
soothu the feelings. Sea-bathing is . ot fai¬ 
nt, for those that like it : not con 
it r week in summer and aut •; ••mi c ion 
to n like a snap-shot when the we 

be fair, but sea-b< 1 g all t 
nd, with few exceptions y day t 
... And no one who has not 
;*m any ; dea of the luxury of dm 


168 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


the genial and buoyant water of the bright 
Mediterranean. 

A number of neat and moderately-sized 
houses have been lately built in and about 
Soller, the rent of which is very reasonable. 
Generally speaking, they are either unfurnished 
or scantily provided; but furniture can be 
bought or hired at Palma, and easily conveyed 
to Soller. If economy be an object, as it is 
with most people, Soller has this recommenda¬ 
tion. My necessary expenses at the inn did not 
exceed a duro a day. 

If a man wants other exercise and amuse¬ 
ment besides walking, swimming, and riding 
sideways on a mule, and he cannot be happy 
except when he is killing something, he will 
find in Majorca, I was told, very fair shooting. 
There is a tolerable supply of hares and par¬ 
tridges. The latter were unknown to the island 
till 1315, when they were introduced from 
Valencia by King Sancho, of Majorca. There 
is also a great number of wild ducks and rock 


THREE WEEKS IN MAJORCA. 


169 


pigeons, at the right season, and in the proper 
localities. A small fee must be paid to Govern¬ 
ment for leave to carry arms, and permission 
is easily obtained from the proprietors to shoot 
over their grounds. There is no fresh-water 
fishing worth mentioning. The little river at 
Soller contains trout; but it 5 much r 
and in summer shrinks to vorv small dimen- 
sions. 

And now, reader, I will detain you a longer. 
Vaya V. con Dios l If you are eorry fur me 
parting, we may possibly meet gain And if 
you have felt any of the plea-: in vusing 
which I had in collecting the scanty Info: mm mn 
before you ; or if you lay aside my urij.-re gikxV g 
little volume with any part of the regret which 
I experienced in leaving the 
it -I may hope for som 

nall of your approbation ant 

THE END. 


BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS. WX . . V.< BIA K." 








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